The Weasley and the Werewolf
by harrypotterfangirl2010
Summary: Hey guys! This is my promised Charlie/Tess fic. Set in 7th year. Lupin's left his new pack-sister with Bill and Charlie takes a shine to her, with typical angst and raunch ensuing. Own Tess Green, Rowling owns the rest. But she can help herself to Tess.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

"Bill, it's only me, Charlie," Charlie Weasley called as he arrived at his brother and sister-in-law's house, Shell Cottage, via the Floo network. Based in Romania, it was much more convenient for him to stay with Bill and Fleur than with his parents. He loved his mum, but she drove him nuts, the way she was always going on about his hair or his marriage-free state. Molly Weasley was mad about grandchildren, and until Bill and Fleur had children, Charlie knew she would hound him about settling down. He didn't _want_ to settle down – he'd never met a woman he could see himself being with forever – and he had never wanted children. As a dragon trainer, he considered his line of work to dangerous to bring a child into the mix. He was perfectly happy as he was, and wished his mother would see that.

There was no answer. Charlie wandered into the kitchen, then stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the most stunning woman he'd ever laid eyes on – which was saying something, given Fleur was a quarter-Veela. He figured she was one of Fleur's friends. He wondered why she hadn't come to the wedding; he would easily have remembered someone who looked like her.

She was reading a book, so he sauntered up to her and placed his hand on her shoulder. He'd always been good with women – phenomenally so, and he was juvenile enough to still enjoy reminding Bill that he'd lost his virginity first despite being two years younger – and he saw nothing wrong with demonstrating an interest in this girl. "Hi, I'm Char – " he started before he was abruptly cut off.

She bolted out of her chair and scampered to the corner of the kitchen, her wand out and pointed at his chest in such a swift motion that it hit him later that it could only have been a supernatural reaction. She screamed at him in what he knew to be French, although he didn't speak a word of it. He quickly retrieved his wand and tossed it on the floor, his hands held up in a motion of disarmament. "I'm sorry," he said helplessly in light of this girl's fury.

"Tess! What's going on?" Bill's voice came through the house. Tess bolted into Bill's arms, her face buried in his shoulder and started rambling in French. Bill was highly sympathetic, saying soothing words in French and English and rubbing small circles between her shoulder blades. At first, Charlie was a little alarmed that he was sharing such an intimate moment with a woman who wasn't his wife, but then it occurred to him that Bill's body language was more paternalistic – in fact, if their kid sister Ginny weren't the strong, not-easily-upset type, he might treat her the same. "Shhh, it's going to be OK. I promised you no-one would hurt you while you were under my roof. Why don't you go to your room and I'll bring you some hot chocolate?" he offered. Tess nodded tearfully and left Bill's embrace and the kitchen.

"Who the hell is _that_ banshee?" Charlie asked. "I barely touched her!"

Bill's green eyes flashed warningly. "Don't _ever_ talk about Tess that way," he growled in a way that reminded Charlie Bill had some werewolf tendencies far more than the cursed scars on his face did. "She's Remus's sister."

Charlie frowned. Remus Lupin, fellow Order of the Phoenix member, werewolf and married to Charlie's high school girlfriend. Charlie liked the guy, though since he and Tonks had gotten married he was a little skittish around the werewolf; they were notorious for being possessive, and it was a good idea not to refer to his and Tonks's relationship. "Remus doesn't have a sister," he said. Apparently, it had taken him a long time to be conceived and his parents had chosen not to have any more children after he had been bitten as a six-year-old. Then it occurred to Charlie what Bill meant. "Oh," he said. "_Oh_. _Ooooh..._" he said as it sunk in. Fenrir Greyback – Lupin and Tess's sire – was a notorious paedophile as well as a particularly vicious Dark Creature who brutalised his sired sexually before turning them. No wonder Tess had been terrified to have a strange man touching her. "Oh, Merlin, I'm so sorry," he said, not apologising for anything in particular – he couldn't be expected to know that touching Tess would terrify her like that – but for the trauma she must have gone through both in being brutally raped and turned into a werewolf.

Bill's lips curved into a grotesque smile. "Greyback had this idea that he was going to make her his wife – got it into his head that he could create some super-monster by having a child with someone he sired. Remus found out about it and took her away. He asked me to take care of her 'cos I can watch her during the full moon." He sat down at the table. "She's had such a bad time of it, Charlie. She still has nightmares and I can hear her crying when she thinks I'm not around. I wish I could do something for her other than just be here. Believe it or not, she's actually far better than she was when she first came here. She locked herself in her room and wouldn't look me in the eye. She'll get used to you. But for the love of Merlin, don't touch her unless she invites you to – and by invites-you-to, I mean _she_ instigates it, not your interpretation of a woman being interested in you – and try and let her know beforehand if you're coming into the room."

Charlie nodded. Sounded reasonable enough. "Would it be better if I stayed at the Burrow?" he asked.

Bill grimaced. He shared his brother's opinions about living with their parents. "I'm hoping it won't come to that," he said.

* * *

"I'm sorry for reacting the way I did before," a contrite Tess apologised later that day. "I know you weren't trying to hurt me. Bill says you're a great guy."

"He's not bad himself," Charlie said. "And don't worry about it – I understand what you've been through. If I'd known, I wouldn't have touched you. I'm sorry I scared you."

Tess sat gingerly on the edge of the couch, and Charlie scooted further away from her to give her space. "I took so much for granted," she said. "I felt a bit inferior sometimes 'cos I'm a muggle born, but everything else – being human, being beautiful – "

"You're still beautiful, Tess," Charlie interjected. "You're more beautiful than Fleur, which is saying something. And she's not full human, either."

Tess smiled thinly. "That's sweet of you to say that, but you should see the look on people's face when they find out about me. First they look at me with lust – which I hate – but it's almost as bad when they look at me with disgust, like all the beauty in the world can't make up for the fact I'm a Dark Creature. I'm not worth anything to anyone," she said haltingly.

"You mean everything to Bill," Charlie said kindly. "I think you mean more to him than Ginny. He always wanted a kid sister he could protect. Ginny's not the type who needs a lot of protection. And Remus must care about you a lot to go to the lengths he has to protect you. Greyback isn't someone you trifle with lightly. To tell the truth, I'm not sure I'd take the risk if I had a pregnant wife. Sorry, that sounded awful," he apologised.

"I've met Andromeda. Dora will be fine," Tess said with a wry smile.

Charlie laughed at that. "She can be terrifying. People think just because she's sane and a decent human being, she's no less dangerous than Bellatrix. I once got busted for having Tonks in my dorm room – in the end, I was far more terrified of her than mum."

"You and Dora are close?"

Charlie shrugged. "We used to be. Not so much now – Remus is very territorial." He shrugged. "It wasn't going to work out between us anyway. I'm just glad she's happy." Tess looked flustered at that. "Do you know something I don't?" he asked.

"He isn't happy about the baby," Tess admitted. "He's terrified it will be like him. He wants her to have an abortion."

"Wow." Charlie leaned back against the couch. "I've never wanted children myself, but if I got someone pregnant I wouldn't want her to have an abortion. And Remus is _so good_ with kids, too. He'll be such a good dad if he can get over his fears."

"How come you've never wanted children?" Tess asked.

"I work with dragons, that's not something I'd want my children around. I think I'd be a good uncle – actually, I can't wait for Bill and Fleur to have kids so mum will get off my case – but I never fancied being a dad. And I never met a woman I wanted to settle down with," he added.

"What about Dora?"

"We were kids," he said dismissively. "She was my best friend and we just kind of drifted together. I wouldn't have done it in retrospect. I still care about her, though. I hate to hear that she's unhappy. I wish there was something I could do."

Tess smiled thinly. "You Weasleys seem to have this thing for wanting to do something," she said.

"Can't help it, it's a family trait. You should meet our mother," Charlie quipped.

"I don't think she'd like me," Tess said flatly. "Purebloods tend not to, even before..."

"Tess..." Charlie's hand fluttered in her direction, longing to hug her but wanting to respect her boundaries. "Remus is part of the Order with mum and dad and they love him, they just don't see that part of him... and this was _after_ he nearly shredded Ron back in his third year," he said with a smile. "They'll like you. You're practically family now, they've _got_ to like you. It's a Weasley rule."

Tess gave a small smile. "Thankyou, you're being so wonderful, and after I attacked you," she said.

"It's my pleasure. Anything to make a gorgeous blond smile."

"I'm not – " Tess started to protest, but Charlie interrupted her.

"You're gorgeous, Tess. I'd be all over you if I wasn't afraid of scaring you. The only way you could make me lose interest is if you turned out to be an utter bitch, and somehow I don't think that's likely. Remus and Bill wouldn't have gone to the trouble they did if that was true."

"Charlie..." Impulsively, Tess reached out and grabbed his hand. "I want to be able to, I do. But when I think about someone touching me like that, I just..." she shuddered with revulsion. "I hate him for what he did to me," she said, her voice quivering. "What kind of a monster preys on people like that?"

She was crying now, and Charlie couldn't help himself. He eased himself over to her and took her in his arms. She didn't push him away; she wrapped her arms around his neck and cried into his shoulder in a similar way to how she'd been with Bill hours earlier... except she didn't see Charlie as a brother-figure. "Bill was right – no-one's going to hurt you while your here. And you don't have to feel like you ought to do anything. Besides, Bill would kill me if he thought I was pushing you. And now he's part-werewolf I'm more scared of him than I am of Andromeda.." He felt Tess choked out laughter and patted her back soothingly. "Don't cry. No, cry if you want to. I'm here for you. We all are. We all are."

... Bill walked into the room to see Tess in Charlie's arms, sobbing her heart out but looking perfectly at ease in his arms – well, as perfectly at ease as someone _could_ look while sobbing their heart out. He frowned. He was used to his brother's skirt-chasing antics – he still wasn't tired of reminding Bill that he had lost his virginity first, despite being two years younger – and had usually considered it a fine joke. After all, Charlie wasn't the type to push a woman into having sex with him, or even lie about his intentions to commit, so if it was all consensual and informed, then whose concern was it other than his and the woman's in question? But this was _Tess_, vulnerable, young Tess (though come to think, they had the same age gap that he and Fleur did) who he had promised Lupin he would look after... who he was more and more seeing as a sister. Perhaps, he thought wryly, that was the problem – Charlie was his biological brother and Tess his quasi-pack sister, even if there was no sibling relationship between the two of them themselves. It was icky. And if Charlie did something, even unintentionally, there would be hell to pay, both from Bill and Lupin...

... "Charlie, we need to talk about you and Tess. You were looking pretty cosy before," Bill said.

"What? I did exactly as you said – I didn't touch her until she instigated it. And I'm hardly going to crack onto a girl when she's sobbing over being raped. Merlin, Bill, I know I have a reputation but Jeez, can't you give me a _bit_ more credit?"

"Tess isn't like most of the women you've gone out with," Bill said quietly. "She's hurting really badly right now. The last thing she needs is the interest of someone whose hardly ever here."

Charlie scowled. "I know that, Bill. I'm not completely insensitive. I'd never push her to do something she doesn't want to. I'm too scared of Remus to do anything lousy to her. Not that I'd do anything lousy to her anyway," he added defensively.

Bill decided it was best to leave it at that. Charlie seemed to genuinely like her and be well aware of the issues that haunted Tess. He figured it would be best if he spoke to Lupin about it...

* * *

... "The thing is, Charlie's never been one for settling down. I've never seen him with the same woman twice in a row. And that's fine, because he's never tried to hide that, but I'm worried about Tess's state of mind. She's... fragile."

"I think you're so used to having Ginny as a sister that _everyone_ seems fragile," Lupin said dryly. "If she can stand to have him touch her, that's got to be a good thing."

"I thought you'd be a lot more... disapproving," Bill said.

"Because this is Charlie of the infamous Charlie-and-Tonks scandal of nineteen-ninety?" Lupin asked. "I know all about that – it was still hot news when I was teaching there. But I trust him with her. Maybe I shouldn't, but I do. Maybe it's just because he's one of the most open-minded purebloods I've ever met... scratch that, one of the most open-minded humans I've ever met. Must be all that work with dragons. He truly isn't fazed by Dark and Dangerous Creatures."

"Neither am I!" Bill said indignantly.

"I know that," Lupin said patiently. "It's just of all of you, I've always felt the most comfortable around him. If Tess is comfortable with him touching her, then that's fine by me."

Bill accepted Lupin's words at face value. It was obvious the man had bigger issues on his mind. "Everything OK with you and Tonks?" he asked.

"Everything's fine."

Bill raised his eyebrows. "Everything OK with the baby?" So far it was only Bill, Fleur and Charlie who knew about the baby, through Tess, as well as Ted and Andromeda. "That bad, huh?" Bill asked when he saw the grimace on Lupin's face.

"I don't want this baby, Bill," Lupin said, his voice dangerously quiet. "I would have been more careful if I'd known how much she had her heart set on it. I would never have _married_ her if I'd known how much she wanted a baby. _Damnit_, I _told_ her I didn't want children." His fists were balled in impotent rage that was far scarier than if he's started yelling. "I want her to get rid of it," he admitted.

There was no abortion in the magical community, though Bill was aware that it happened – through both improvised magical methods or more traditional muggle ones. Still, he was shocked to learn that Lupin was _that_ serious about not wanting to be a dad. He felt his own brand of frustration. He wished he could offer reassurances, but the fact was, no-one knew what the results were when Dark Creatures mated with humans. "I'm sorry," he said helplessly.

Lupin smiled wanly. "It's my problem," he said. "No-one can do anything about it now. You, however, can help Tess through this time. That's at least _something_ off my mind if I know she's being taken good care of."

Lupin caught up with Tess soon after, who greeted him with a delighted squeal and threw herself into his arms. "Nice to see you, too," he said; what with feeling so edge around Tonks and her parents, it was nice to be with someone he felt so comfortable around. He wondered if the rest of the pack had this same connection that he and Tess with, then decided that they couldn't have. "How are you holding up?"

"It's pretty bad," she admitted. "I have these _cravings_ that I _hate_, they feel so unnatural and yet – "

"So forceful, so magnetic?" Lupin offered. Tess nodded, her cheek against his shoulder. "It gets easier. And have chocolate. I really does make you feel better, and Fleur makes the best hot chocolate. And let the Weasleys be there for you if you need them. That's why I brought you here."

"I was a bitch to Charlie," Tess admitted.

"No, you weren't. And if you were, he understands. He's taken quite a shining to you, you know."

"He likes me," Tess said. Then, bitterly, "I don't know why."

"Would you understand why if you were human?" Lupin asked.

Tess shrugged. "I guess." She had been used to male attention before she had been turned; even as a muggle-born her striking blond looks had made her highly desirable.

"Then trust me that it truly doesn't make a difference to Charlie. He doesn't care. In fact, I have a suspicion he prefers it. He feels more comfortable around Dark and Dangerous creatures than people."

"I don't think I can," she admitted in a small voice. "The idea of a man touching me like _that_ – I mean, it was OK, when he hugged me, I didn't _sense_ anything – but the idea of anything more than that..." she shuddered, thinking of Greyback.

"Don't think about it, then, love," Lupin said. "No-one's going to make you do anything you don't want to do. Or they'll have me and Bill to answer to." He drew Tess into his arms and hugged her protectively. "It's gets better, I promise." He rubbed her shoulders comfortingly, and wished there was more he could do for her. It had been thirty years since he had been bitten, and he still remembered those awful first transformations. At least, he thought consolingly, Tess would never know what it was like to transform without Wolfsbane... though that was surely cold comfort to her. "I care about more than you can understand, I hope that's some comfort to you. I'll be back after the full moon. Bill will take care of you until then."

* * *

"How's Tess?" Tonks asked Lupin that evening when they were having dinner with her parents.

"Fine," Lupin said. "She's going through a rough time. I wish I could do something for her. At least Bill seems to be taking really good care of her. And Charlie seems rather taken with her," he added absently.

"Really?" Tonks asked. She had remained deeply fond of Charlie long after their ill-conceived relationship, and she was enough of a romantic to be concerned that he was never involved with someone for long. People were meant to be together, she thought. She slid her hand onto her husband's thigh and was relieved when he clasped it with his own. He was so moody lately, snarling at her one second, all over her the next, gentle and thoughtful the moment after. "That's sweet."

"He's an idiot," Lupin said shortly. Tonks flinched. "He's so blinded with infatuation that he's got no idea what he's getting himself into."

"Really?" Ted asked disbelievingly. "Didn't his brothers have a bet going that he'd end up with a Dark Creature? Something up no-one else being able to keep up with him?"

"Ted..." Andromeda said warningly. Ted, for all his attributes, could be quite dense when it came to the magical community. Everyone knew you didn't start talking about your daughter's ex's stamina in front of her werewolf husband.

Ted remained oblivious. "Just _watching_ that kid fly was exhausting. I've never known someone to have that kind of stamina – at least, not from a human," he added, just cottoning on to his gaff.

It was too late. Lupin dropped his fork, abruptly pulling away from his wife's hand at the same time. "I'm going for a walk," he said abruptly. "Don't get up," he barked at Tonks. "I want to be alone." And he walked out.

"Sorry," Ted mumbled. Over thirty years in the magical community and he still made mistakes about things that had been completely foreign to him until he'd been eleven, things his wife and daughter had grown up recognising as the Merlin-given truth. Like his son-in-law's pathological jealousy when it came to Charlie Weasley.

"He'll come back," Tonks said dully. "He always does." Usually drunk, but always remorseful. She was beginning to prefer it when he came back like that, because at least then he was sorry and gentle with her.

True to form, several hours later – shortly after her parents had left, which made her think he'd been watching the flat – Lupin returned, clearly drunk and remorseful. "I'm sorry," he said, not quite slurring his words but not quite getting them out clearly either. "Hearing about Charlie gets me so jealous. I feel like a schoolkid and I hate it but I can't switch it off."

She bit her lip. She hated how he got jealous and temperamental, though she tried to understand that he really couldn't help it. At least not the jealousy – that was hardwired into his werewolf physiology, he was extremely possessive. "It's OK," she said in a small voice. "I'm just glad you're home."

He kissed her gently and scooped her into his arms with ease. She lay her head against his chest, feeling the supernaturally fast beat of his heart. He carried her into their bedroom and lay her down gently, climbing on top of her and slowly, tenderly starting to make love to her. She arched her back and clung to him in response, crying out his name as he delayed his own gratification to made her climax.

She curled up to his afterwards, albeit somewhat awkwardly given her condition. "I love you," she said in a small but contended voice.

He kissed the top of her head idly. "I love you, too." He felt his wife relax in his arms and fall asleep, confident for the time being that her husband would stay by her side. While she slept, he stared up at the ceiling. This thing with Charlie was only the tip of the iceberg, although being married to someone who used to date someone with Charlie's reputation wasn't exactly easy to live with. It was everything. His marriage, the baby – he didn't want any of it, even though he loved Tonks to distraction.

Tonks stirred in her sleep and he realised he'd been shifting restlessly. He settled down, stroking her hair the way she liked to put her back to sleep. But even when sleep came from him, he couldn't stop thinking about what a mess he'd made of things and how between his wife and their baby and his sister and Charlie Weasley, he had far too much to worry about.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

"How are you feeling?" Charlie asked solicitously. He wondered if that was a stupid question. He couldn't fathom what it must be like for her to transform.

"Fine," she said shortly.

"You look... exhausted," he said diplomatically.

"You mean I look like shit," she countered.

"You could never look like shit," he said loyally, when the truth was, she _did_ look terrible... in an exhausted, traumatised way. "But you _do_ look exhausted. Didn't sleep well?"

"I don't know," she said miserably. "I don't _remember_ anything, but everything hurts and I feel like I haven't slept in weeks."

"Poor girl." He wanted to hug her, but remembered Bill's words. "Fleur made you hot chocolate. It's supposed to make you feel better."

Tess smiled thinly. "Remus says is something about releasing endorphins – he knows a lot about biology, for a magical-born."

"Sarah – his mum – was a muggle born. So is Ted," Charlie explained. "Here." Tess's hands were shaking so hard that the liquid sloshed around over the sides of the mug. She looked ready to cry over her incapability to so much as hold a mug right. "It's OK, I've got it." He brought the cup up to her lips. "Tilt your head back," he instructed. She did, and Charlie helped her drink the hot chocolate.

"Thankyou," Tess said.

"Feeling any better?" he asked.

"My stomach feels better but the rest of me feels like crap," she admitted. "Everything hurts. It feels like I've pulled every muscle in my body and no spell will do anything."

"You tried massage?" Charlie suggested.

"Massage?"

"Yeah, it's a kind of muggle treatment for aches and – "

"I know what massage is, Charlie, I just didn't think _you_ would."

"'Cos I'm a pureblood, you mean?" Charlie asked with a grin, managing to sound enchantingly nonchalant, like he didn't care that she'd just insulted him. "Between Quidditch and dragons, I think I _have_ pulled every muscle in my body. And broken every bone. I once managed to fracture five vertebrae in my spine at once falling on my back from fifty meters. Magic can heal a lot, but it doesn't make it less sore. I know you don't like being touched, but I promise I'm not trying to come onto you if you want me to give it a try."

"OK," she said shyly. Besides, she suspected she had scared the crap out of him in reacting the way she had when he'd first touched her, and he wasn't keen to try again, no matter how keen he might be.

He manoeuvred her so effortlessly in front of him that Tess hadn't realised when he was doing until he felt him behind her, his hands on her shoulders. He didn't know a thing about werewolf physiology, so gut instinct told her that the aches she was talking about were caused by muscles and joints being forced in a way that didn't come naturally to humans, so the worst of the pain would be coming from the major joints and muscle groups. "Oh, wow, you're like a wall of sore muscle here," he murmured sympathetically as he dug his fingers into her shoulders. "Sorry," he said when he winced.

"It's OK," she said. "It feels good." She leaned forward slightly to give him better access to her shoulders and her blond hair fell across her neck, giving Charlie a free view of it, and it occurred to him that her neck was so sexy. _Stop it_, he ordered himself. He'd heard that werewolves were good at picking up sexual heat, and the last thing he wanted to do was frighten her.

"I'm just going to slide my hands under the top of your dress," Charlie said. "If that's OK. I don't want to scare you."

"It's – it's OK," she said, not sure if it was, and yet trusting him implicitly. There was something about him, so warm and open, so genuinely concerned with making her feel comfortable. She moaned with pleasure when she felt his fingers digging into her shoulders. "Charlie..." she murmured. Leaning forward slightly to give him better access.

"Be careful who you say that to, you could arouse a man with that tone," Charlie commented flippantly before it occurred to him not to say something to suggestive to her.

His fears were unfounded. "I wouldn't say it to any man but you," she said shyly..

"Good to know you feel comfortable around me."

"I do, Charlie. I – I'm sorry for how I reacted to you when we first met."

"Tess, it's fine. You don't have to keep apologising for it. Anyone who's been through what you have deserves to be a little skittish around men. I'm not offended."

"I'm glad about that. I want us to be friends."

"I want that, too. Tess... may I kiss you?" he asked tentatively.

Tess immediately tensed up. "I'm not that kind of girl, Charlie."

"Not what kind of girl?" Charlie asked, genuinely befuddled. If she didn't want to kiss him, that was fine, perfectly understandable given her circumstances, but he didn't see how he was showing her anything short of respect by asking rather than just doing.

"Not a whore."

Now Charlie was truly confused. "When did I ever call you a whore?" he asked, pretty sure he was supposed to be insulted if only he could work out Tess's logic.

"I know you don't just want to kiss me, Charlie," Tess said resignedly. "Guys don't want to just kiss me. Everyone knows werewolves are promiscuous as all hell," she said bitterly, because she hadn't felt any sexual desire, let alone any inclination to act on them.

At least not until she had met Charlie. It scared her how much she liked him, that giddy feeling in the pit of her stomach, that feeling of infatuation... it had to stop, she knew. A pureblood would never be interested in her in that way. She was a muggle-born, and a Dark Creature. He might want to take her to bed, but he'd never introduce her to his mother...

... Charlie realised what Tess was saying, and even though he understood where her bitterness came from, he was deeply insulted. "If I just wanted to fuck you, Tess, I would've said that," he said coolly. He pulled away from her, feeling suddenly dirty. He hadn't realised how deeply his feelings for her ran until now, and hearing her thoughts – that all he wanted from her was a tumble between the sheets – made him feel cheap.

Tess felt his sudden coldness as if a switch had been flipped, and for a second, she thought maybe she had pegged Charlie wrong. But – he was a pureblood. Sure, he worked with Dangerous Creatures for a living, but that wasn't exactly the same thing as getting romantically involved with one. She started to apologise, but Charlie had already moved away from her with the lightening speed and reflexes that had characterised his Quidditch career, both at Hogwarts and briefly as a professional. "I'm sorry if I gave you the wrong impression," Charlie said coolly. "I'll leave you alone now." And before Tess could say anything to soothe the situation, he had stormed off to his room.

* * *

"What's up with Charlie?" Lupin asked. "Bill said he's always trying to be around you, but I haven't seen hair nor hide of him yet. Is he sick?"

Tess squirmed. "Not exactly..." she said slowly.

"Did he do something?" Lupin asked. "So help me, I'll snap his neck if he's hurt you," he growled, despite knowing that Charlie couldn't really hurt Tess, even if he'd wanted to – Tess could flip him like a doll if the inclination hit her.

"He didn't do anything," Tess admitted in a small voice. "It was me." And she found herself telling her brother what had happened.

"I never thought I'd be coming to Charlie's defence, but he's not like that," Lupin said. "None of them are. If he said he just wanted to kiss you, then I'm sure that's what he meant. And he's too scared of Bill and I to treat you as disposable."

"You think I should have let him kiss me?" Tess asked.

Lupin rubbed his eyes, feeling suddenly tired. "I don't know," he admitted. "You could do worse. It depends on what you want."

After Lupin had gone, Tess plucked up the courage to knock on Charlie's bedroom door. "I'm sorry," she blurted out. "I didn't mean to insult you. It's just – that's all most guys want from me... when they're not disgusted by me. I didn't mean to make you feel like I saw you the same way. You – you can kiss me if you want," she said haltingly, scrunching her eyes shut and tilting her head defiantly, bracing herself for the impact.

"Tess, open your eyes," Charlie said softly. Tess slowly opened them to be met by the concerned expression on Charlie's face. "I wish you could have seen the look on your face. You were terrified. Tess..." he cupped her cheek with his hand. "I don't want you like this. I don't want you to have to grit your teeth just so I can kiss you. I promise it won't be that pleasant. Kissing is... pretty special. I don't want you to feel you have to do it. I don't want to kiss anyone who feels they have to do it. I'd rather just be your friend."

There was a dignified sincerity in Charlie's words that touched Tess right to the core. "Charlie..." she said, at loss as to what to say to such a beautiful and sincere sentiment. "I wish I could," she said. "I _want_ to want to."

There was something open and vulnerable about her that moment that made Charlie want to take her in his arms and show her what intimacy was meant to be about. With remarkable restraint, he leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. "It will get better," he said. "You don't have to be afraid anymore." He understood why she _was_ afraid, though, and he hoped that with enough time and support, she wouldn't be.

* * *

"Do you understand what you're asking for, Charlie? That's serious magical protection."

"I know what I'm asking for," Charlie said. "And I know if anyone can help me, it's you."

Andromeda Tonks frowned. No, she didn't doubt that Charlie knew exactly what he was asking for. "I ought to go to your mother and tell her you're certifiable," she said. "If anything goes wrong, she could kill you." Her frown grew deeper, remembering how frequently her daughter's wrists had been bruised where Lupin had been too rough with her – and no doubt plenty of other places that Andromeda couldn't see. And that was what Lupin did when he went a little overboard in a fit of passion; Charlie was asking her to cast a protective spell so Tess could go all-out in him.

Charlie shrugged. "I'm going to do this with or without your help," he said. "With your help will be better."

"I don't know, Charlie..."

"You're the only witch who can block a Cruciatus curse," Charlie said. "Well, the only good one, at least." Apparently, it had been routine practice in the Black household to use Unforgiveable curses as training; it had been the foundation of Andromeda's phenomenal ability when it came to defensive and protective spells. "I swear the safest time of my life was when I was going out with Tonks and I had you to fix things when I fell off my broomstick."

"Or down flights of stairs when you got busted being where you shouldn't be," Andromeda said dryly. Funny how she'd been so mad at him at the time, but it seemed amusing more than anything now. She wished it had worked out between them. There was nothing wrong with Charlie, other than his exhaustive energy. Certainly not when compared to her son-in-law who was too old, too broken and – yes – too poor. Not to mention the storming out whenever Charlie's name was brought up. "You must be crazy about her if you're serious about this," she said. Charlie tilted his head slightly, a flush spreading across his cheeks. "My _God_," Andromeda said. "I never thought I'd see you ready to settle down with someone."

Charlie shrugged. "I can't explain it," he admitted. "I barely know her and I know how damaged she is – not the werewolf bit, I can handle that – you should have seen the look on her face when she said I could kiss her. Like she was bracing herself for the Cruciatus curse."

"More like bracing herself to be pawed and violated," Andromeda mused. "You can't blame yourself, Charlie. It's all she knows."

"I don't blame myself," Charlie said. "I just want to help her. And maybe if she realises how strong she is, she won't be so afraid of me."

Andromeda still wasn't sure about it. It could go wrong so easily, and it had been a long time since she'd done the kind of protective spell that Charlie was asking for. But she didn't doubt that he was crazy about her, and that he would go ahead with this crazy plan of his with or without her help... and he may as well have the help of one of the most powerful good witches of her time.

"Andromeda, I wasn't expecting you. Has something happened to Remus?" Tess asked, biting her lip in concern at the thought. Lupin was everything to her.

"Remus is fine," Andromeda said, figuring it was close enough to the truth – he was as fine as he had been of late, more or less. "I actually came as a favour to Charlie."

"Oh. Is something wrong with Dora?" Tess asked.

Andromeda suppressed the urge to smile indulgently. The jealousy in Tess's voice was obvious. She had to have _some_ feelings for Charlie if her werewolf's jealousy was rearing its ugly head. "Everything's fine. He just got this crazy idea in his head that he could make you feel safer by making you see just how strong you are."

"Pardon?"

Andromeda explained just as Charlie came through the door. "No," Tess said. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"You won't hurt me," Charlie promised. "I just want you to understand that _I_ can't hurt _you_. You don't need to be afraid of me. I couldn't overpower you if I tried."

"No," Tess said again, but Charlie was already lunging for her. Tess responded exactly how he had anticipated; she threw him against the wall, almost too quickly for Andromeda to react and soften the blow.

It floored her to see just how swift and strong Charlie was, though naturally he was never going to beat Tess in hand-to-hand combat. Not to mention, he was a glutton for punishment, going after her time after time while she pushed him back every time, her strikes becoming increasingly erratic and emotional as Charlie's attacks forced her to relive her worst nightmare. She pulled out her wand and screamed at him, her thoughts too unfocused to achieve much.

Charlie instinctively knew when she had reached her breaking point and reached out for her, snatching her wand from her hand easily and taking her in his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck and he held her tightly against his chest, his arms securely around her waist. She buried her head in his shoulder and sobbed brokenly. "It's OK," he whispered. "It's OK. Nobody's going to hurt you here. It'll be OK." Feeling Tess sink, he slowly lowered them so they were sitting on the floor. He stroked her hair and held her close and let her cry. "You have no idea what it was like," she sobbed.

"Then tell me," he said soothingly. "I don't care how ugly it is. I care about _you_."

Weather it was how comforting and safe it felt to be in Charlie's arms or just her emotional exhaustion, Tess found herself telling Charlie what had happened that night she had been turned. "I thought he was going to kill me. I _wanted_ him to kill me. I felt like he was tearing me apart, there was so much pain and so much blood. And then he bit me and until then, I hadn't known what pain was. I can't believe – who _does_ something like that to a person? Deliberately?"

"A very evil person, Tess. Go talk to Andromeda about her sister if you don't believe me. Or her brothers-in-law. There's a lot of evil in the world, I'm sorry to say. But you're safe here. This place is protected to the hilt and it's Bill's and Remus's job to take care of you. Mine, too." Charlie planted a gentle kiss on the top of her head and resumed stroking her hair. What _was_ it about this girl that he wanted to rip her clothes off and take her on the floor right now and at the same time pet her and comfort her like he would a distressed sister, if Ginny was the type to get distressed?

... "What the hell was that about?" Bill asked Andromeda. Andromeda explained. "You – _have_ – to be – _fucking – kidding – me!_" he said incredulously.

"It actually seemed to work, though I don't think in the way he intended," Andromeda said ruefully. "Leave them be. He's crazy about her. I never believed he felt that way about Dora. And there's _definitely_ some jealousy on her part when it comes to Dora."

... It felt like an age had passed before Tess finally stopped crying and settled in Charlie's arms. "I'm such a baby," she said guiltily, feeling like a child that needed to be petted and comforted and not a young woman who had seen so much and ought to be immune to tears by now.

"You've gone through a lot, you're allowed to cry sometimes. You should have seen me the first couple of times I fell of my broomstick."

"Not brave, stoic Charlie, then?"

He chuckled. "Hardly. Here, why don't I get you to your room and get Fleur to bring something up for you?" Charlie suggested.

She sniffled. "I'm fine to have dinner with everyone else."

He stood up and held out his arm to her still-sitting form. "Up you get then," he said, understanding better than she herself did in that moment just how emotionally drained she was – and how being emotionally drained had drained her physically. He pulled her more than she got to her feet of her own accord, and her legs were shaking. "Here," he said gently, wrapping his arm securely around her waist. "There's no shame in being a little vulnerable sometimes, especially after what you've been through. Let me take care of you, please?" he asked, so beseechingly that Tess found it impossible to refuse him. "OK, I'm just going to pick you up and carry you – it's easier than trying to support you." And it felt like her knees would buckle for good at any moment. "Put your arms around my neck." Tess did so and Charlie scooped her up, one arm around her back, one under her knees. He carried her to her room and laid her down on the bed, resisting the urge to make a smart alec comment about doing anything to get into her bedroom.

"You've been dying get into my room," Tess mumbled in her attempt at humour.

"Not like this. Try and get some sleep, OK? I'll wake you for dinner."

Tess found it surprisingly easy to fall asleep and woke up in the dead of night to find Charlie seated on the couch, reading a book. "Oh, hey," he said, casually as if she had just walked through the door after an ordinary day and hadn't just woken up after an emotional breakdown. "Fleur brought dinner up a while ago. I thought I'd wait for you."

She struggled to sit up. He'd pulled the blanket over her but hadn't tried to take her clothes off. "I didn't know whether I should try taking your bra off or not, and I decided with no," he said, as if reading her thoughts.

She blushed. It was sweet, she supposed, in his own way. "What's the time?" she asked.

"Two. In the morning."

_That_ woke her up. "Why didn't you wake me for dinner?" she asked.

"I figured you needed the sleep."

"Then... why didn't you have your own dinner? You must be starving."

He shrugged nonchalantly. "I wanted to eat with you," he said casually, like it was some tiny thing that he'd waited an extra seven hours for dinner. "C'mon, up you get, you must be starving. Or I _will_ come and sit on your bed."

Tess couldn't help but giggle at that. Charlie could be so disarming sometimes. Was this the same guy who had provoked her into attacking him not ten hours before? Who had held her while she sobbed in his arms, reliving her attack and initial transformation? She climbed out of bed and scooted over to the couch. Charlie uncovered dinner and reheated it. They ate in companionable silence until the dishes were cleaned. "I like seeing you enjoy yourself," he said.

She blushed. She found herself blushing a lot around Charlie. He had a knack of complimenting her on the oddest thing, and making them sound so wonderful and sincere. "I'm sorry for attacking you," she said. "Did I hurt you?"

He shook his head. "Andromeda's phenomenal when it comes to protection spells. I – " He was just about to say it had been one hell of a bonus to dating Nymphodora Tonks, having one of the magical community's most gifted Healers to go to when he inevitably injured himself, then stopped himself. "I – I started it. And I didn't even achieve what I wanted to."

"Which was what?"

"I wanted to make you realise you can beat the crap out of me if you want to – that there's no way I can force myself on you, even if I wanted to. Which I don't," he hurriedly assured her. "You're stronger than you realise – physically, emotionally. I wanted you to see what I see."

"Charlie..." How did he just keep coming up with beautiful things to say? "Where were you a year ago?"

"Romania. I wish I'd known you a year ago. You must have been... happier." But maybe, he thought, not as strong. You never knew how much you could endure until you had to endure it, and you were _always_ stronger that you thought you were... if you wanted to be. Maybe Tess from a year ago would have been happier, but this Tess was stronger, and he couldn't imagine being so infatuated with anything less than this Tess, however maddening she could be sometimes.

She smiled thinly. "I was," she said. "And yet... I feel like I was so ignorant. I knew stuff like this happened – was happening – but it was only ever on an academic level. I'd never _choose_ to have this life, but... I feel like I was so unaware of just how much was going on, and in a really bizarre way, I'm _glad_ that I'm aware now. Does that make any sense?"

He nodded. "I feel like I was like that before I went to Romania. The worst I was exposed to was that we didn't have a lot of money to spare on luxuries, and even then – there was always food on the table, and I realise now just how loving and supportive a family I came from. I was Quidditch Captain and head boy. Romania is... interesting. It's a lot rougher at times, but a lot more honest, it just blew my mind how different things were. It's hard, dangerous work and there's just no point in bothering with luxuries, but I'm so glad to be part of it." He smiled ruefully. "I guess that's not exactly the same as what you've gone through."

"No – I mean, it's not, but – I think you get it. That just because things are harder doesn't make them automatically worse. At least, not entirely." She smiled shyly. "You're not like the boys I knew when we had weekends out of Beauxbatons. And if all this hadn't of happened, I would never have met you." _Or Bill_, _or Remus_, she thought, but somehow those thoughts didn't make it to her mouth.

Charlie cupped her cheek similar to the way he had done when she had invited him to kiss her. "Tell me what I have to do to make you feel comfortable around me," he begged. _Whatever it takes, however long it takes_, he thought.

"I like the way you smell," she admitted. "Like soap and wood fire." _Not like rotting meat_. She shuddered at the thought, and he knew what she was thinking of – _who_ she was thinking of.

"It's so _cold_ here compared to Romania," he said huskily. "You can't blame a guy for wanting to sit in front of the fire all day." But he dragged his hand across her face behind her head and gently brought her head against his shoulder. "That tickles," he said when she rubbed her nose against his neck. He thought he could sit here all day – well, all night – and let her smell him.

"I'm not good with men," she admitted. "Beauxbatons is an all-girls school so I didn't meet a lot of guys."

"I've barely dated, so I hardly have any more experience with relationships than you."

She tilted her head up so she could meet his eyes. "Liar," she said teasingly, a smile playing on her lips.

"Oh, I've _been_ with women," he said casually, hoping she wouldn't ask him exactly how many. "I just didn't date a lot. Never wanted to, no-one could keep up with me."

"I suppose I should be complimented." And Tess lay her head back down on his shoulder.

He rubbed his hands up and down her arms and she sighed slightly. "Sorry, I know my hands are really rough," he apologised, sorry now that he hadn't taken more care to keep his skin smooth. Things like that just didn't matter on a dragon compound.

"It's nice," she murmured. "It's _you_." And he realised that she was relying on her senses – touch, smell, hearing – to remind her of where she was, and who she was with. He continued stroking her arms and hair, finding it surprisingly easy to slip into a platonic state of mind so as not to frighten her with his sexual energy. He felt her fall asleep in his arms and went to take her back to bed. "No, Charlie, stay with me," she mumbled in her sleep. Well, how was he supposed to say no that _that_? Not feeling right going to bed with her, even in a non-sexual sense, he got his wand out and called the blanket to them, wrapping them both up warmly and settling himself as comfortably as he could, given her couch wasn't exactly the most comfortable for sleeping on, let alone in an upright position with her weight against him.

But somehow, it seemed perfectly natural.

Morning came, and Tess stirred awake. "What the – " she started, understandably confused as to how she had ended up on her couch in Charlie's arms.

"I tried to move you, but you specifically requested otherwise," Charlie offered. "Should I have – "

She blushed. Why could he make her blush over the silliest things? "No, it's OK. I felt... safe. Though if you go bragging that you spent the night with me – "

Charlie chuckled. He liked seeing her anger flare up like that. He liked seeing any emotion but fear and distress. Passion suited her. "I promise, I thought of no such thing. At least not until you mentioned it," he teased. "I'm not going to do anything until I know it's absolutely OK with you." He frowned thoughtfully, reconsidering his words. "No, more than OK. Anything less than an infatuated teenager, and I'm not interested."

"That might take a while, Charlie," Tess warned him. The idea of being a giggly, infatuated teenager again seemed as foreign to her as being part of the muggle world again. Besides, she thought idly, she was eighteen; she didn't have many months _left_ as a teenager.

"I can wait. I have plenty of patience." He reached out and twirled a clump of her silky blond hair through his fingers. "I don't know what it is about you, Tess, but I want all of you, you mind, your passion, you heart, but especially your friendship and trust. I can wait for that, and if I ever do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, tell me. I'd rather know there and then rather than continue to make you feel like you can trust me. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Tess said, wondering what she had done to earn the patience and infatuation of such a man. She'd never thought she'd attract the attentions of a pureblood even before she'd been turned, let alone now.

"I'm going to go back to my own room before anyone catches me. See you for breakfast?" he asked. Tess nodded.

He was too late to get back to his room unnoticed. Bill raised his eyebrows when he saw his brother emerging from his sister's room after obviously spending all night with her. _Yuk_, he thought. He had to stop thinking of Charlie and Tess like that, like the two shared the same bond that Charlie and Ginny did when it was quite obvious that Charlie was deeply infatuated with her – and if Andromeda was right, she returned his feelings, at least a little, if her jealousy about Tonks was anything to go by. "Do I want to know or should I just send you to The Burrow?" he asked. _Or better yet, Romania_. Perhaps it wasn't the fact that Charlie was his biological brother and Tess his pack-sister that was the problem; perhaps it was more that Tess was barely older than Ginny and he was more protective of Tess than Ginny on account of what she had been through. He didn't like the idea of _anyone_ sleeping with _either_ of his sisters.

"Nothing happened," Charlie said, remarkably cheerful for someone who _hadn't_ gotten laid. Charlie was always at his chirpiest when he had just burned off a bundle of energy, either in the sky or in bed. "I stayed on the couch. I wanted to keep an eye on her. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go sit in front of the fire. I don't know _how_ you can stand this weather."


	3. Chapter 3

_Hey, guys! Sorry for the delay - my computer died and it turned out I hadn't saved this chapter properly, so I had to rewrite it all again. The original - at least up to the family lunch scene after the beach scene - was better, sorry :(. Everything after that is original. _

Charlie was as good as his word. He never touched her in a way that could be construed as sexual or even romantic – in fact, it was almost brotherly. He was always there to help her up, maybe let his fingers linger on hers a fraction of a second longer than they needed to if he passed her something but nothing that made her feel threatened. In fact, if she thought he was capable of guile, she would have thought he was deliberately keeping his distance – physically, at least – to make her _want _him to touch her.

And of course, it didn't help that those skin-tight dragonshide pants he was so fond of wearing (she wondered if he owned a dozen pairs or just cleaned the same pair over and over) clearly defined his strong, sturdy legs – as well as more intimate part of him, not that she looked or anything – and leather lace-up vests over flowing, long-sleeved shirts did nothing to hide his muscular chest.

She couldn't help but think how it would feel to be held against that chest when she wasn't crying.

She couldn't help but think how it would feel to be kissed by him.

One day, on a November day that was remarkably warm and clear, Tess was staring out at the beach and had a hankering to build sand-castles. Magical-borns didn't get the appeal of sand-castles; they were always trying to build them with magic, which, in Tess's opinion, completely defeated the purpose. She was only getting in the way, anyway; Ginny was home and the twins were coming over, so it was something of a sibling reunion.

Tess hoped they would like her. She was nervous, and her nervousness was annoying Fleur. So she decided to take herself out to the beach.

"What are you up to?" Charlie asked, watching her from the porch and finding whatever she was doing fascinating - but what _was_ she doing? Dad, he thought, would love her; she was always doing _something_ the muggle way and expressing amazement that anyone would _bother_ taking such small shortcuts using magic.

"Building sand-castles," Tess said.

Charlie scrunched up his face, trying to understand. "You mean like Hogwarts?"

"Kind of... just not as big. Or elaborate."

"Can I help?"

"If you want." Charlie said down next to her and got out his wand to magic up a castle worthy of Hogwarts. "Hey! Not like that! Not using magic!" Tess said indignantly. "You have to build it with your hands. You can magic a shovel," she said grudgingly. "And a pail."

"How gracious of you," Charlie said flippantly. But he did as he was told, following Tess's instructions, and found that he was enjoying himself. The end result wasn't much to look at - he could have done a much better job if he'd been allowed to use his wand - but he'd had a lot of fun, largely because it was such a pleasure to see Tess enjoying herself. "You did this a lot, growing up?" he asked, eager to hear about her life before he had known her - which was all but a few months.

"Yeah," she said wistfully. "My mum and dad and I used to go to the beach every summer. I loved making sand-castles with dad."

"You don't see them much?" Charlie asked.

Tess shook her head. "They - they didn't take well - to me being a witch. There's a muggle religion - a belief system, if you will - called Christianity, and being a witch is basically the antithesis of it. They could never deal with it. I stayed with friends over summer whenever I could."

"I take it they don't know you're a werewolf, then," Charlie said softly, sympathetically. Tess shook her head sadly. "I'm sorry," he said. "And for what it's worth, I think they're idiots. Anyone who can't see beyond the fact you're not what they want you to be to what you've overcome, how brave and strong you are - they're idiots," he proclaimed.

Tess blushed. She always blushed when Charlie paid her a compliment, because he seemed so sincere and she found it so hard to believe she possessed all the qualities he believed she did. "I'm not any of that, Charlie," she protested. "Not like you."

He scooted closer to her. "Yes - you _are_," he insisted. "You think I'm brave because I work with dragons? That's instinct. When something that weighs a tonne or more and flies and breathes fire is coming at you, survival instinct kicks in. You do what you have to do stay alive - and heaps of trailing doesn't exactly hurt. But what happened to you - to be what you are, to - er - crave things the way you do - to still fight to be human - no-one would have blamed you for giving up your humanity. That you didn't, that you're fighting it, says so much about you. I think you're the bravest person I know. I don't think I'd be fighting it the way you are if I were you." And, he added to himself, he had parents and siblings who would stand behind him no matter who or what he was.

"Charlie..." Tess was speechless at such touching words - and more than that, the knowledge that he meant them with every fibre of his being.

Charlie slid his hand across her cheek and down her neck, pulling his face close to hers without kissing her. Her breathing became shallow, and it took her a few seconds to realise that it was anticipation, not fear. "Frightened?" he asked, knowing full well that she wasn't, but wanting to hear the words from her own mouth.

"No," she said breathlessly.

"Nervous?"

"A little," she admitted.

"Tell me to stop whenever you want," he said huskily. "I never want you to feel uncomfortable around me." Tess nodded slightly, and Charlie leaned in closer. She could smell the sea-salt on him and momentarily marvelled at how wonderful and clean he smelled no matter what he actually smelled like. In that moment, she realised how much she wanted him to kiss her...

Bill had been watching them from the patio for several was concerned about the two of them getting involved, and though he tried to justify it as it being about his sister's emotional welfare- after being used and abused by one 'man' , she didn't need to be used and discarded by another, he knew a big part of it was that it icked him out; Charlie was his brother, Tess was his sister. That they may not see _each other_ as siblings - that no such relationship existed between them - didn't make it any less icky in Bill's mind.

But he would settle for being concerned about Tess's welfare. "Charlie! Tess!" he called. "Lunch is ready!"

Charlie withdrew sharply, the moment ruined. "Futi-i!" he growled in Tess's ear, and although she didn't speak a word of Romanian, she was in no doubt as to the sentiment. "We'll return to this, OK?" he said. She nodded, smiling shyly at him and sucking on her bottom lip in a way that made Charlie think to hell with Bill.

Nevertheless, he got to his feet and offered an arm out to Tess. She took his hand gratefully and scrambled to her feet. Charlie went to wrap his arm around her but she had already taken a step in front of him, beating him through the door.

Bill grabbed Charlie's arm before he could follow her, rooting his brother in the doorway. "What was that about?" he asked.

"Were you spying on us?" Charlie asked suspiciously. He squared off against his brother; Bill was taller, but Charlie was stockier, and they were about even when it came to dealing with Dangerous creatures and curses, so it was an equal match when it came to a battle of wills.

"She's my sister, Charlie," Bill said with quiet conviction. "And she's been through hell. And you don't exactly have the most sterling reputation in the world. I won't have you skipping off to the other side of Europe when you get bored. Speaking of which - does she know anything about your engagement?"

"It didn't exactly come up," Charlie said, squirming, because he had intentionally not bought it up and hoped to Hades that no-one else would. It seemed to be something everyone concerned preferred to forget, anyway. "And I won't go skipping off to the other end of Europe - I mean, I won't get bored with her." Besides, though her brothers might passionately disagree, if only to keep her in England closer to them, Charlie privately thought that Tess would be happier in Romania, which had one of the most tolerant attitudes - both legally and culturally - towards Dark and Dangerous Creatures. Bill looked pointedly at him, and Charlie had to concede, at least to himself, that Bill had a right to be concerned; he didn't exactly have a good track record for long-term relationships. "Look, Bill, I don't know what it is about her, but I'm crazy about her. I think about her all the time. Mostly I think about kissing her," he admitted.

Bill was torn between suspicion and surprise. Charlie wasn't the type to think about kissing - at least, not _only_ kissing. He decided on surprise. Charlie wasn't the type to lie about such a thing, either. If he said he was crazy about Tess, well, maybe he actually was. "If you hurt her, Charlie, even unintentionally, you'll answer to me." His lips curved into a gruesome smile. "No, scratch that. I'll tell Remus and you can answer to _him_."

Needless to say, the thought scared the crap out of Charlie, and would have discouraged him immediately had he had any intention of hurting her in the first place. "I care about her, Bill," Charlie said. "Don't think you have the monopoly on that." He pushed past his brother and joined the rest of the family in the main room...

… Ginny came charging down the stairs, having inspected Shell Cottage for the first time. Years ago, it had been her great-aunt Muriel's, but somehow, it was so much homier now that it was Bill and Fleur's. "Hi," she said when she caught sight of the _other_ beautiful blond who had to be her brother's pack-sister. "You must be Tess. I've heard a lot about you."

Tess took note of the fact Ginny had the same intelligent green eyes and bright, sincere smile as Charlie and immediately took a liking to her. "I've heard a lot about you, too,"she said. "You're the sister who's brilliant at Quidditch and afraid of nothing. "

Ginny laughed. "I like you already," she said. "You're the sister who said 'screw you' to Dark Creatures and routinely calls my brothers lazy gits for whipping out their wands for everything."

"They _are_ lazy gits and they _do_ whip their wands out for everything," Tess insisted, laughing.

Behind Ginny, two identical boys - well, young men, really - who she figured were Fred and George were hovering, eager smiles on their faces. "Ginny, don't be rude, introduce us," the one who was missing an ear - George, she surmised - insisted, forgetting that Ginny had actually introduced herself.

Laughing, Ginny took a step back. "Tess, these are my brothers Fred and George. I apologise as a Weasley for their behaviour if they start drooling like monkeys with no control over their impulses."

"Hey!" George and Fred said in unison as they hustled Ginny out of the way so they could introduce themselves. Tess found herself smiling to be the object of such obvious interest, if only because they seemed far more interested in her looks than her lycanthropy.

But they weren't Charlie.

"Sorry about Fred and George," Bill said when he got Tess alone for a second. "They've always been a sucker for a pretty girl. I'll let them know to back off."

Tess smiled. "It's fine, Bill. In fact, it's kind of flattering. It's _nice_ to be the pretty girl that guys are a sucker for," she said, completely without arrogance, because she knew how rare a thing that would be now.

"But it's Charlie who lights the fire," Bill said, trying to keep his tone light.

Tess smiled again; she could read Bill like a book sometimes, and she appreciated it. "I never thought a guy would see me like that again," she admitted. "I never thought I'd want a guy to touch me again. But with Charlie - "she shrugged, not knowing how to express herself.

"I think I know what you mean. I never had any inclination towards settling down until I met Fleur. And then suddenly there's this one person - " he cut himself off, realising he could have been talking about Charlie. "Anyway, let's get back to lunch."

Lunch was a pleasant occasion; Tess had forgotten what it was to be part of a family. She smiled shyly at Charlie; he smiled back at her.

After lunch passed, they all settled in a circle around the fire with eggnog (for Ginny) that was more rum than eggnog for everyone else. They were soon exchanging reminisces about brighter times, which sure enough led to making fun of one another's more embarrassing (or legendary) moments. Naturally, the twins got the lion's share of the memories, but they all had memories of various times the others had gotten into trouble.

"Remember the time Charlie got into trouble for having Tonks in his room?" Fred recalled, completely missing the warning look he got from Bill.

"And Percy got the blame for not being able to keep him behaving," George remembered, chuckling. "If McGonagall seriously thought making him Prefect would make Charlie listen to him - well, she had six years experience with him by then. If Bill could do Jack, what chance did she think Percy had?" And Charlie had, on occasion, listened to Bill, because he was older and because they had such a similar outlook in life that of all his siblings, he was the one he respected the most.

"I don't think that's appropriate conversation," Bill interjected.

"We do," the twins said simultaneously.

"I do," Ginny piped up, who had been too young at the time to understand what the big scandal was about - or even what a scandal was - and by the time she was old enough, people had moved onto more current scandals. Charlie had left Hogwarts two years before she had started, and had been something of a legend there - on the Quidditch pitch and off.

"So do I," Tess said, trying to keep her tone light, like she was simply interested in some gossip among friends and not her would-be love interest's sordid past. "You can't all be as perfect as you can come across."

That was all the encouragement the twins needed. "Perfect? Charlie? _As if_," Fred scoffed. "He got busted in seventh year having Tonks in his room. McGonagall was furious - I think more for the fact he'd been caught fooling around with Andromeda's daughter than the fact he'd been caught fooling around."

"And Andromeda was _furious_," George laughed, remembering. "So was mum." It was always enjoyable when Molly's anger was directed at someone other than them. "_How dare you bring shame to the family!_" he said in a high-pitched voice that in no way resembled Molly's. "They tried to force an engagement, which Charlie actually agreed to, then skipped off to Romania and naturally Andromeda wasn't about to let her precious only child leave England."

"Mum practically didn't let _Bill_ leave England, remember?" Fred asked. "And there's seven of us. You'd think she could spare one."

"George! Fred!" Bill protested, but the twins were too busy enjoying remembering the brother's escapades to take note of the warning tone in their other brother's voice.

"And naturally, she held Percy to blame, like that straight-lace could stop Charlie from doing what he wanted."

" 'Cos this is the guy who lost his virginity _before_ Bill – to Bill's Head Girl, no less – and spent the next ten years crowing about it," Fred added. "I swear I think McGonagall would have kicked him out of Gryffindor if it wasn't for the fact he blitzed all his classes and won all the Quidditch tournaments."

"Never made Prefect of Head Boy, though, thankgod, or we would _never_ have heard the end of it from mum," George concluded; Molly tended to do the 'everyone made Prefect' shtick like the twins didn't exist. Bored with discussing Charlie's love life, they moved onto ridiculing Percy…

… For a few moments, Tess was struck dumb, unable to move, for having heard Charlie's brothers treat Charlie's past promiscuity as a joke. And worse, his sister – a girl who ought to be too young to know about such things – laughing along with it. Charlie's track record with women was apparently so well-know and accepted that it as treated as a joke.

She got up and went to her room with as much dignity as she could manage, given she felt as if – as if Charlie had publicly cheated on her rather than her finding out about his history with women in a less-than-ideal way.

... Charlie got up and followed her, keeping a discreet distance and giving her a little time to cool down before he knocked on her door. He didn't want to be around his siblings right now – specifically, his twin brothers – but he thought Tess needed a little time to collect her thoughts…

… "What was that about?" Fred asked innocently when he noticed Tess storm off, clearly mad about something. "I thought she was having fun."

"She _was_, you twit," Bill growled in that werewolf way that was partly hardwired into his psyche and actually made his twin brothers scoot backwards a little. "She and Charlie have this thing going. He likes her – I mean, _really_ likes her, I've never seen him this way about a girl – not even with Tonks." Which, on reflection, was a bad comparison, because he'd never seen Charlie and Tonks as a particularly in-love, passionate couple, more like best friends who had drifted together because everyone in their combined Houses thought they ought to be. "And I think she felt the same way. Except werewolves are notoriously possessive – didn't you notice how Remus was around Charlie at the wedding?"

"I thought he was just antsy about the baby," George said in a small voice, cottoning onto what Bill was getting at.

"Well, he wasn't," Bill snapped. "That Charlie-and-Tonks story was still doing the rounds when he was teaching there, and no telling him it wasn't serious can make him be comfortable with it. That's the way werewolves are. And you two _twits_ just made a big joke about it and probably turned her into a raging green-eyed monster. She's _never_ going to be able to see him the same way again," he said irritably, knowing deep down that something like that was going to get out from _someone_; the twins just did it particularly tactlessly. And Tess _had_ asked.

"Sorry," Fred and George said in identical small voices. Neither of them brought up the fact that Charlie hadn't exactly bothered to keep his sex life a secret of the years, and something like that was bound to come out from someone.

"Forget it," Bill growled…

… Charlie knocked tentatively on the door, which was slightly ajar. When she didn't say to go away, he took that as permission to enter. She was sitting at her dresser, furiously brushing her hair. "Here, let me, you'll tear your hair out doing that," he said, easing the brush out of her hand. She didn't maintain an iron grip on it or shove him backwards, so he took that as permission to brush out her hair. Not that it _needed_ brushing out, but she seemed to need the sensation, and if she let him do it, that couldn't be a bad thing…

Tess tilted her head back reflexively as Charlie ran the brush through her thick, silky hair so the same-aimed strokes would hit the crown of her head. Charlie recognised the gesture and longed to run his fingers through her hair, massaging her head. "Feel good?" he asked.

The words jarred her. She wondered how many times Charlie had done this to how many women. "Got plenty of experience doing this, do you?" she asked coolly.

Charlie stopped what he was doing and placed the brush back on the table. "As it happens, no. I was good with Ginny when she was a little girl. She used to get her hair in these magic-defying knots, I was good at combing them out."

There was a long pause, and if he hadn't been talking right next to her ear and she didn't have supernatural hearing, he would have thought she hadn't heard him. Finally, she asked, "Was it true? About you and Dora being engaged?"

No point in denying it when she'd only ask someone else if he said no. "Briefly, yes," he admitted. Looking back, it seemed like such an idiotic thing to rush into. They had been seventeen and if the way what little chemistry they'd had had fizzled out quickly and their differences in personality and desires out of life had widened the last ten years was anything to go by, they would have been, at best, bored by one another. "Andromeda's really old-fashioned, and – "

"I get how it happened, Charlie, I just wanted to know if it was true."

So she wasn't going to make this easy on him. "Tess… I never pretended I was a virgin."

"I know that, Charlie."

"Then why are you acting like I lied to you? Or cheated on you? I haven't done anything wrong." He hated the whiny tone in his voice, but he couldn't help it. She was mad at things he'd done long before he'd met her – things which had been perfectly legal and, more to the point, consensual. And here she was making him feel cheap. Tawdry.

"I can't help how I feel." That was the worst part; knowing that she had no right to find Charlie's behaviour anything more than a little distasteful; certainly not like he'd committed this huge moral crime against her. "Do you know what it's like, having people treat the fact your boyfriend's a slut like it's a big joke?"

_Slut_. He'd never had it put quite like that before. And he had to concede, there was a degree of truth there. Certainly, if he were a woman, he'd be called a slut. "I'm, not your boyfriend, Tess. I want to be, though. More than I've wanted any woman in my life." He tentatively placed a hand on her shoulder.

She flexed her shoulders back violently and he dropped his hand. She spun around just as violently and glared at him, the anger in her eyes (usually crustal blue, now a stormy blue-grey) almost as powerful as the hurt from a non-existent betrayal. "Gee, thanks, Charlie," Tess said sarcastically. "_So_ nice to know that me not sleeping with you makes you – want – me."

"I didn't say that!" Charlie said indignantly. Why did she have to make everything about men wanting to have sex with her? "And you wanted me, too. I could see it in your eyes. I didn't _need_ to ask you, I just wanted to hear you say it."

"Go away, Charlie," Tess snapped, embarrassed to be reminded as to just how much she had wanted Charlie to kiss her.

He clenched his fists, longing to take her by the shoulders and shake some sense into her. "Fine," he spat. "Enjoy being alone." And he stormed out of the room, taking pleasure in slamming his door…

… Bill heard Charlie's bedroom door slam (at least, he thought, it was a sign that he had made it back to his room whole enough to slam the door. He gave his brother a few minutes to calm down and collect his thoughts…

… "You OK?" he asked ironically, well aware that he wasn't.

"You think I'll be missed if I go back to Romania?" Charlie asked, not completely joking. "Dragons, I get. Gypsies, I get. Pushing me away and being unreasonably jealous at the same time, I _don't_ get."

"She's a werewolf, Charlie, she can't help it. Take it as a sign she cares."

"What a fucking consolation," Charlie spat. "She cares enough to be jealous over shit I did years ago but not enough to let me fucking touch her." In his frustration, he kicked the leg of his bed.

"Good thing you added _touch_ in there, mate, that's my sister you're talking about," Bill said dryly.

"Yeah? How would you feel if it were Fleur?" Charlie challenged. "How would you like it if this girl you were crazy about has feelings for you, too, but something you did way before you met her makes her repulsed by you at the same time she's attracted to you? You're not exactly this pure shining virgin, either."

Bill was silent. There was some truth to what Charlie was saying, and he wasn't about to rub it in by reminding his brother that Fleur had first demonstrated interest in him, not the other way around. "I'm sorry, Charlie," he said. "If it's worth anything, I believe you when you say you care about her. I've never seen you like this about a woman." He pursued the ones who caught his eye, and if they weren't interested, he didn't waste time with the hard-to-get game, he just moved on. He wasn't continuing after Tess because he liked the thrill of the chase; he was continuing after her because he was in love with her.

Charlie sat on the edge of the bed, his hands fisting the cover in impotent rage. "What do I do, Bill?" he asked desperately. "How do I make her realise I'm crazy about her, that no-one else meant anything to me the way she does?"

"I don't know," Bill said honestly. "I know, though, how comfortable she's felt around you the last couple weeks. I saw the way she was with you on the beach, and I was ten meters away. She likes you and she's attracted to you and maybe in time that will be enough for her to look beyond this. Keep in mind, Charlie, that Tess has _no_ consensual sexual experience. Here's a girl who can barely stand to have any man other than you, me and Remus touching her – and take that as a compliment – and doesn't know the first thing about intimacy and, well, here's you. She'd feel insecure even if she _wasn't_ a werewolf."

"I didn't think about it like that," Charlie admitted.

"Remus and I did. That doesn't really matter right now. My point, Charlie – she's fragile, she would be even if she wasn't a werewolf. But she likes you, and she trusts you. Build on that, and maybe she can look past her jealousy. I know it's not fair, but that's life. If you care about her, that's what you have to do. Anything less and she'll just become more disgusted with you, or kick your ass."

Charlie unclenched his fists and they went flat against the cover. He visibly calmed to have a plan of action ahead of him. Bill was only telling him to do what he'd already been doing, to do what he'd committed to do – be her friend.

The next day, he caught her alone in the living room, reading. She started to get up when she saw him. "No, please don't," he said. "I want to speak to you in private." He kneeled on the floor so she was above him. "I'm not going to apologise for what I've done in the past," he said quietly. "I know it upset you and I wish to Merlin it hadn't, but I haven't done anything wrong." He took Tess's silence to mean that she conceded that point, at least intellectually. "I'm crazy in love with you, Tess. I've never said that to a woman before."

It was the wrong thing to say. "You're saying you managed to get engaged without being in love with her?" Tess flared.

"We were seventeen and it was a stupid thing to do," Charlie admitted frankly. "I wouldn't have done it if I hadn't had Andromeda on my case. You can't tell me muggles never get married when they're caught in a compromising situation, can you?" he challenged. The silence was profound then, and Charlie knew he'd hit on something. "Look, Tess, what I'm trying to say is – I'm crazy about you," he repeated. "And I know how much this bothers you, my past, and I hope to Merlin you can get past it." He was about to say _you're never going to find someone who'll love you the way I will_, but stopped himself just in time; it would only remind her that he was a pureblood and human and she was a muggle-born Dark Creature, like she ought to be flattered that he would lower the collective standards of purebloods in looking at her twice, let alone loving her. "I can make you really happy if you'll let me. That's all I wanted to say." And he got up and left the room before Tess could say anything else snarky.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! Sorry about the delay - hope you enjoy, and remember, feedback makes Gabbie write faster!**

Bill, Fleur, Tess, Charlie and the twins were sitting in the kitchen, having lunch and generally enjoying one another's company. As the weeks went by, Tess found herself more and more comfortable around them and was starting to feel like perhaps she might belong somewhere again.

The twins were, naturally, entertaining people with their various exploits over the years; they had to be the funniest people Tess had ever met, and utterly without pretensions – or pride, come to that. They saw nothing wrong with making fun of themselves if it got just as good a laugh as making fun of someone else.

They were talking about their jokeshop – somewhat regretfully, as they'd had to abandon it temporarily, they swore) when things had gotten too dangerous in Diagon Alley. Tess laughed gleefully as they told her how they had run away - or, rather, _flown_ away from Hogwarts in a blaze of glory, leaving a very pissed-off Umbridge in their way. Tess wished she had been there.

"We _all_ wish we had been there," Bill said. "From the sounds of it, it was the one and only time they caused a ruckus that was well and truly deserved." He got matching indignant looks from his brothers, who considered _all_ their ruckuses to be well and truly deserved.

"And then," Fred said with a flourish, "There was this big brouhaha when Ron got a massive dose of love potion meant for Harry that this chick Romilda had bought from _our store_."

"Mum was _so_ pissed off," George said mournfully. "Even Ron saw the funny side of this."

"And this is _after_ he got poisoned while Harry was attempting to cure him of his infatuation," Fred concluded.

Then they became aware that their new guest wasn't peeling with laughter anymore; in fact, she was looking decidedly put out. "And... you think this was all _funny_?" she asked incredulously.

The twins were suddenly aware that they had somehow pissed off the object of their affections (though they were also aware that she had a kind of thing going with Charlie, and anyway, they were quite happy to share their easygoing crush on her with one another), though they had no idea why. "Well... _yeah_," George said.

"It was Ron! Hopelessly in love with someone who barely knew he existed!" Fred said. Apart from Percy, they generally lived in awe and fear of their older brothers, so made up for it by making fun of Ron.

"Except as the friend of the guy she was trying to infatuate," George said "If you met Ron, you'd understand why it's funny."

"So... you think the idea of drugging someone to have sex with you is funny?" Tess asked, her voice icy. "We have a term for that in the muggle community. We call it _rape_."

The room went uncomfortably silent; naturally, the twins didn't understand why Tess was so sensitive about the subject. "That's not what we meant, Tess," Fred said. "And anyway - "

"Spare me your bullshit excuses," Tess snapped in a way that made the twins heads snap back simultaneously; they both would have preferred their mother's rage to Tess's icy fury. "What if it were me? Or Ginny? Or is it only funny when it's someone _else's _sister or daughter?"

"Tess, they didn't mean - " Bill started, and for his troubles he received a glare that reminded him he was only part-werewolf while Tess was a full one.

Tess got out of her chair, push it back so abruptly that it clattered against the floor before anyone could stop it. She stormed off to her room. Bill went to get up, but Charlie waved him down - authoritatively enough for Bill to actually pay him mind. Bill had to admit, Charlie had a way of understanding her that even he didn't. "Give her a minute to collect herself, then I'll check in on her," he said.

"What the hell was that about?" George asked indignantly. "No-one said anything about _rape_." He was genuinely horrified that Tess had taken what he and Fred considered to be a fine joke - all the finer because they hadn't planned it that way, it had just happened - and gotten _rape_ out of it.

"Muggles have a different attitude to love potions," Bill said, which was true enough, and didn't require going into exactly why Tess found the subject so sensitive. "She does sort of have a point, though. People shouldn't use a potion to make someone like them - it's not even real love, it's a fraud - and you shouldn't be encouraging it by selling the crap."

The twins looked ready to grumble about that edict, but there were matching looks on their older brother's faces that made them decide perhaps that wasn't the smartest of ideas. And the love potions didn't make up a huge amount of their sales, anyway - not that it mattered at this point in time, anyway...

… A few minutes later, Charlie knocked on Tess's bedroom door. She was standing on the small balcony, her hands gripping the iron railing tightly. "Careful, with your strength, you're likely to break it," he said dryly.

"It's not funny, Charlie."

"I know it's not, Tess. But the twins didn't mean any harm and a love potion powerful enough to get someone to have sex with you - I know two people who have that kind of expertise, Horace Slughorn and his pet, Andromeda Black. Mum used to say it was probably a good thing they had a falling out, or Merlin knows what they may have invented. "

"And that's supposed to be a consolation? This is _serious_ Charlie. Lord Voldemort exists because of stuff like this."

He came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist tentatively. She didn't resist or protest, so he brought his chest up against her back in a motion that was somewhere between brotherly and loverly. Which was, he thought, entirely the problem. "The kind of potion Merlope Gaunt made is damned near impossible. What the twins make - was is all that most people can make - is more like... a teenage crush. I know it's still wrong, but I don't think it's on the same level of wrong as raping someone - or giving them a potion that makes them think having sex with someone is the number-one priority. They're good kids, Tess. They may be impulsive and impetuous, but they're not the types who take pleasure in hurting people - or even do it just because they're too stupid and entitled to realise what they're doing. If they knew why you're so upset, they'd be horrified."

Tess clutched his arm tightly. "You won't tell them?" she asked.

"Of course I won't. And neither will Bill. I just want you to understand the kind of guys they are. "

"They're your brothers, aren't they? They have to be decent guys," Tess said, softening under the presence of Charlie's kindness and sympathy. She felt guilty to recall how good to her he had been - always there for her as a friend, never coming onto her, never reproaching her for her inability to overlook something he'd done long before she'd met him. She wished she could let go of her jealousy. She wished she could feel about him like a human did, not with her werewolf possessiveness.

He laughed softly. "You haven't met Percy," he said softly. "You might rethink that if you had."

"Charlie?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you ever - "

"No," Charlie said, knowing where she was going. "I never had any use for love potion - though I was the recipient of a few clumsy ones over the years, not effective enough to achieve anything. I don't mean to brag, but ask any Quidditch captain - it's a far more powerful aphrodisiac then any potion a Hogwarts student can get their hands on. Then I met Ted, and he's _really_ opinionated about love potions - like, as bad as Hermione and her elf protection society. It's what Bill said - people shouldn't use a potion to make someone like them - it's not even real love. If they don't like you for yourself, what's the point in making them like you because you've put junk in their heads? "

"I think I'd like Ted and Hermione," Tess said.

"They've certainly helped open my eyes - and my mind," Charlie said. "It's easy, when you're a magical-born, to take certain things for granted - like that love potions are just a joke. Or that we should just accept the status quo. That's how we got into this mess in the first place, people like Voldemort and the Malfoys thinking we should maintain the status quo rather than doing what's best for everyone - or at least the majority of people."

She hugged his arms around her. "You always make things seem a lot clearer," she said.

"Is that a compliment?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Then I'll take it."

* * *

A few days later, he came across her in the living room, furiously writing and scribbling out; there was a pile of parchments on the floor. "Hey, you know you can clear them and reuse them," he suggested. He picked one up and attempted to scan it, but she had scribbled it out so violently that there was nothing to make out but ink stains. "Something troubling you?" he asked.

"It's my parents. My sister's sick - my muggle sister, not Fleur or Dora. Cancer. They want me to heal her. It's a moot point, because I don't have that kind of power."

"What's cancer?" Charlie asked.

"It's - it's when the body sort of... turns on itself and creates rouge matter that just grows and grows until it eats away at vital organs," Tess explained. Magical-borns, she had discovered, had a terrible grasp of biology, particularly human biology, though Charlie at least seemed to understand things if you put them in terms he could grasp.

"So you just have to make the rogue matter disappear, or would it come back?" Charlie asked.

"It shouldn't," Tess said. "It does, sometimes, but usually because you didn't get rid of it all in the first place. Theoretically, if you get it all, it shouldn't come back. But I don't have that kind of ability, and I'm never going to make them understand that I'm not being spiteful, I really can't do it."

Charlie shrugged. "I can," he said simply. Tess looked at him in surprise. "I mean - I've never healed this cancer thing, but it sounds simple enough. I learnt a lot about Healing - I'm not a qualified Healer or anything, but it started with me learning how to heal my various broken bones and went from there. This cancer thing sounds pretty straightforward."

"Charlie - I - I don't know," Tess said. Suddenly, it seemed much easier when she had no choice; she simply lacked the talent to do what her parents were asking. Her parents, who she hadn't seen in over two years, who had nothing but nasty things to say when it came to magic, who she hadn't dared tell about her lycanthropy - her parents, who were only interested in her know because she might save her sister's life. And naturally, they wouldn't be the least bit grateful; if anything, they'd be more resentful that magic could cure their daughter when science couldn't.

"You don't know if you want to save your sister's life?" Charlie asked.

"They won't be grateful, Charlie," Tess said mournfully. "It will just make them despise me more. They'll be resentful that their own beliefs can't save her but the thing they've been looking their noses down at the last eight years can."

Charlie tried to understand, but he had come from a loving, supportive family - albeit one headed by a mother who could put the fear of Merlin in them all - and such resentment was completely foreign to him. "Maybe," he said cautiously. "But think about it this way - if you don't do it - well, if _I_ don't do it - and she dies - can you live with that?"

"Mum, dad, this is my friend Charlie," Tess said apprehensively.

Mr. and Mrs. Green eyed the young man suspiciously. "From Beauxbatons?" Mr. Green asked as if he were asking were Charlie from the moon.

"Hogwarts," Charlie corrected cheerfully. "Beauxbatons is an all-girls school. I'm English, born and bred."

"Then why do you sound funny?" Mr. Green asked, completely without tact.

"I've been living in Romania the last seven years," Charlie said, beginning to understand Tess's issues with her parents. They were rude, and bigoted, if the 'sound funny' comment was anything to go by. "I understand your other daughter's sick."

Mrs. Green nodded. "Elizabeth," she said, and there was this funny, strained tone to her voice which Charlie suspected was in response to Charlie's 'other daughter' comment, like, what... Tess didn't count? They had taken to thinking of Elizabeth as their only daughter? Charlie wondered how much of that was having a chronically ill child - he knew, at least intellectually, that a family that evolved around a seriously ill child tended to elevate that child to a higher status, it wasn't something he knew personally on account of the robust health that ran through the Weasley family - and how much was their dislike of magic. "I don't see why _he_ had to come along," Mrs. Green said to Tess.

"_He_ is the one who is going to heal your daughter," Charlie said, liking the Greens less and less with every passing second. "No offence to your daughter - " he stressed the word deliberately, " - but Tess knows Jack about Healing. I, meanwhile, play with dragons for a living, so I know plenty. I've had to patch myself up enough times."

Mrs. Green went a colour that matched her face. "D-dragons?" she asked.

"Yeah. Hence Romania. They're illegal in England so I had to go there. Pissed my fiancée's mother right off." Tess made a funny choking sound when she realised Charlie was intentionally needling her parents.

"You're - _married_?" Mrs. Green asked, looking pointedly at Charlie's hand.

"Merlin, no. Tonks needed to stay in England for her work and I needed to be in Romania for mine, so that was the end of that."

"Tonks?" Mrs. Green asked.

"Nymphadora Tonks," Charlie explained pleasantly. "But she hated the name - can't say I blame her - so she's always been known as Tonks." Charlie tactfully left out the fact that Tess referred to her as Dora because that was what Lupin called her; that would involve explaining who Lupin was, and while he was enjoying needling the Greens with references to his life in the magical community, he wasn't about to throw Tess right in it by bringing up her lycanthropy. "Anyway, for what it's worth, Tonks's mum is maybe the most talented Healer of her time and I learnt a lot from her so if anyone can help Elizabeth, it's me."

"If this - Doctor Tonks - is so good, why isn't she here?" Mr. Green asked, managing to latch onto the fact that he wanted the very best for his little girl despite his abject distrust and disgust of magic.

"_Healer _Tonks," Charlie corrected. "I suggested you never call her _that word_. She'll hex you. And she isn't here because she has as little to do with the muggle world as possible. Kind of like you and your wife, except in reverse. Now, is Elizabeth here or have we wasted our time?"

Mr. and Mrs. Green exchanged looks, and silently agreed that this uncouth magical boy was better than nothing - certainly if they couldn't have the best there was. "She's through here," Mr. Green said grudgingly, resenting every second he had to be under their roof - and Tess wasn't much better, especially since she seemed to be _laughing_ at them inside.

He led Charlie and Tess through to Elizabeth's room. "Oh, Lizzie," Tess said in spite of herself. Her kid sister was just as bigoted and judgemental as her parents - perhaps more so, because her own letter had never come - but she was clearly on death's door. Thirteen years old, she couldn't weigh more than forty kilos, and her skin was a sickly white colour, the veins clearly showing through. "Why didn't you contact me sooner?" Tess asked.

"We had hoped she would be cured with more conventional methods," Mrs. Green said primly.

"You mean you were too proud to ask for my help?" Tess raged. "Merlin, mum - was it _that_ important to you?"

"Tess, don't let it get to you," Charlie said quietly. He knelt by Elizabeth's bed. "Elizabeth, my name's Charlie, I'm a friend of your sister's."

"A magician," Elizabeth said weakly.

"Yeah. And I'm a good one, too. Way better than your sister, though I am seven years older. And my job's pretty dangerous, so I know plenty about healing things. I'm just going to see what I can do about this thing that's making you so sick, OK?" _And if I can't, I'll engineer Andromeda here somehow_, he vowed. Muggle problems were meant to be of no concern of the magical community, and the Greens were the last kind of muggles he wanted to have anything to do with - but there was something so tragic, so preventable about this young girl who looked minutes away from death.

Elizabeth nodded and Charlie got to work. After a few minutes, there was a visible look of relief on Elizabeth's face, like he had eased an actual pressure inside her body; he wondered if that was how cancer worked, that extra mass pressing against the body... "I think that's it," Charlie said.

"What do you mean _you think_?" Mrs. Green asked suspiciously.

"I mean - I think it's all gone. I think she's cured. At the very least, I've bought her time. If she gets sick again, you can call us again."

"So - you haven't cured her?" Mrs. Green asked, even more suspiciously.

"Mum..." Elizabeth protested. "I feel better, really. I think he's cured me." She looked at Charlie, her eyes shining appreciatively. "Thankyou."

Charlie started to say 'you're welcome', but Mrs. Green cut him off. "I _knew_ all this magical claptrap was for charlatans," she said bitterly. "And _knew_ that letter would bring nothing but trouble for this family."

"Mum..." Elizabeth protested again, but at this point, Charlie had tired of simply needling the Greens and had had enough. _No-one_ called magic 'claptrap for charlatans' around him... let alone that Tess's magical abilities had caused nothing but trouble for her family.

"Your daughter - _Tess_ - is one of the most amazing people I've ever met, and you might have a _clue _why if you'd shown _any _interest in her the last seven years. She's phenomenally talented for someone barely out of school - I couldn't do what she could at eighteen - and she's one of the smartest, kindest people I you weren't such a pair of bigots, your life would be so much richer for having her in it. But as it is, I feel sorry for you. You're too stupid and ignorant to see what you have and I don't see the point in wasting any more time here. You're daughter - Elisabeth - will be fine, bloody well be grateful for that. Tess, let's go."

"I did tell you they were pretty awful," Tess reminded him when they returned to Shell Cottage and Charlie was irritable. "You can't be pissed off at me about that."

"I'm not pissed off at you, Tess, I'm pissed off at _myself_," Charlie said. "The way you talked about them - I thought maybe you were a little unappreciative. I mean - my family was so loving and supportive, even when mum was in a rage about something one of us had done - I never knew what it was not to feel like my family had my back and I couldn't comprehend that anyone else's parents would be like that. I mean, even Narcissa Malfoy's a pretty doting mother, in her own way. I figured you were unappreciative or exaggerating or something. I'm pissed off with myself because I should have believed you. They're horrible. And ungrateful. I can't believe they don't see how amazing you are. "

Tess blushed. "You always know how to make me feel good about myself," she said.

"It's easy when I have so much to work with," Charlie replied. For a few seconds, they looked at her, and Tess was sure he was going to try to kiss her again. Then he pulled away ever-so-slightly - hardly noticeable, but enough for Tess to know that it wasn't going to happen. "I don't suppose you have any great liking for Romanian food?" he asked.

"I wouldn't have a clue what Romanian food is, I'm afraid," Tess said, surprised at just how disappointed she was about the non-kiss. "But I like just about anything. Call it another thing I don't have in common with my family - I _like_ trying out new things."

Charlie brightened at that. "Good," he said. "No-one in _my_ family likes it... so you can try it with me. I mean, not that I haven't tried it before - I'm just hoping that someone, somewhere in England likes Romanian food, too."

"Alright - sounds like fun," Tess said, hiding her disappointment - even to herself - about their non-kiss.

It _was_ fun, far more than she had expected to have. But then, she had always liked cooking, and discovering new cuisines, and she liked _Charlie_ - as a friend, only as a friend, she told herself - so it really shouldn't have come as a surprise that she had fun cooking with him.

And Romanian food was delicious. "When I first got to Beauxbatons, I couldn't help eating everything in sight, I _loved_ all the new food," she confessed as she helped herself to a third serving. "I'm surprised I didn't go home for the summer weighing a hundred kilos."

"I'm curious - how did you end up at Beauxbatons?" Charlie asked. "I thought all English witches and wizards were automatically offered a position at Hogwarts."

"Mum made a huge deal about how no daughter of hers was going to a co-ed school," Tess said. "I doubt she meant any of it and it was just her way of trying to stop me from going to Hogwarts. Dumbledore arranged for me to go to Beauxbatons instead - either she knew she'd been outsmarted or she decided it was best not to argue with Dumbledore, I don't know exactly, but I ended up at Beauxbatons. Shame, I would have met all of you sooner had I been at Hogwarts."

Charlie grinned. "I'm quite glad you didn't, actually, since you would have been in first year when I was in seventh. Your first impression of me would have been of me behaving badly. I'm mortified enough that you heard about it, let alone were around to witness it. Besides, I would have liked to have gone to a foreign school."

"You didn't like Hogwarts?"

"God, no, I loved Hogwarts. I just always knew there was a life outside of England for me."

"Do you see yourself coming back here? To live, I mean?" Tess asked.

Charlie shook his head. "Mum pesters me all the time, but - " he shrugged. "I love Romania. It's a lot less restrained, a lot more open. There aren't the hang-ups we have in England about blood and breed status. People are a lot more caught up here about what's right and proper - England's one of the few countries where Voldemort would ever have risen to the power he has, because everywhere else he would have been a crackpot banging on about antiquated values that don't matter nearly as much as ability... and heart."

Tess smiled at that; she had never heard anyone refer to Voldemort as a 'crackpot banging on about antiquated values'; she liked him even more in that moment. "I think, when this is all over, I'd like to see Romania," she said wistfully. That was, of course, providing they won; she knew exactly what was in store for her as a muggle-born half-breed should they lose.

Charlie grabbed her hand impulsively and squeezed it. "When this is over - when we win - I'll show you all around," he said "I know every interesting a fair bit of Bulgaria, too. "

She smiled, thinking, _by interesting, I bet you mean dangerous_. But somehow, with Charlie, dangerous just seemed... interesting. "I'd like that," she said. She made no effort to retrieve her hand; in fact, she took a certain pleasure out of the feel of her hand in his; her hand was so much smaller in his, but seemed to fit perfectly and she wondered what it would be like to talk walks along the beach, hand-in-hand with him...

It was Charlie who pulled his hand away. "We should get it, Bill will be wondering where we are," he said abruptly - so abruptly that Tess couldn't help but wonder what she had done.

"Is something the matter?" she asked.

He cocked his head. "Nope," he said. "Why would anything be wrong?"

"No reason," she said in a small voice. And Charlie smiled.

"Charlie! What are you playing at?" Bill asked Charlie late that evening.

Charlie did his best to look innocent. "No idea what you're talking about, Bill."

"You and Tess. I was watching you."

"What, you're spying on me now?" Charlie asked, doing his best to sound testy.

"I hardly call it spying when you have a cosy dinner for two in my backyard," Bill said, genuinely testy. "What are you playing at? You looked - well, you looked like you were leading her on." Which made no sense to someone who knew Charlie as well as Bill liked to think he did. Charlie had made it clear he liked Tess, and was the type who either went after what he wanted or recognised a lost cause and found something else to do. He definitely was _not_ the type to lead a girl on - even if he wasn't deeply infatuated with her... if not deeply in love.

"I'm not leading her on, Bill. She knows how I feel about her. She's made it clear she doesn't want to be with me - at least not yet. I'm not going to make an ass of myself over and over again if she's not interested. If she wants to kiss me, she can. I can wait. "

"Ahh... and if you spend enough time showing her what a great guy you are..." Bill said suggestively.

"I'm just being myself," Charlie said simply. "OK, a very celibate version of myself, but myself, nonetheless. You were right, you know. Even if she wasn't a werewolf, I'd have to be cautious around her emotionally. I want her to be in love with me, I want her to _know_ she's in love with me. And I only see that happening if she makes the first move. "

"And if she doesn't?"

Charlie shrugged. "I can deal with that," he said. "I'd rather deal with that than doubt her feelings."

* * *

Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Tess and the twins were whiling away a Saturday night playing card games that got sloppier and sloppier as they had more and more to drink and it became more entertaining to tell taller and taller stories. The twins, Tess thought, had no end of stories tell about life at Hogwarts. Regardless of what Charlie said, it made her wish she had gone to school with them. She was the same age as the twins; she could have had a lot of fun with them.

They moved to the living room and sat on the floor around the fire, where Tess had her first taste of firewhisky. "I suggest you pace yourself," Charlie said helpfully. "It's strong stuff if you're not used to it." Tess hardly paid him attention; the firewhisky was pleasant in her body, giving her a buzz and sense of warmth – both physically and emotionally – that muggle liquors could never give her. She leaned her head against Charlie's shoulder and found herself more and more relaxed as the night went on.

And Charlie's arm around her back more and more secure, come to think of it – both physically and emotionally. Sweet Charlie. He had always been so patient with her, given so much without asking anything in return. And he was sexy as hell to boot.

"Alright, time to call it a night, I think," Bill said. Tess was clearly trashed, despite her werewolf's tolerance for alcohol; he suspected the only think keeping her upright was Charlie's arm, slung casually around her back like a boyfriend's. Bill supressed a smile. Charlie had abstained from drinking much, deliberately Bill suspected, because the more Tess had to drink, the more flirtatious she became towards Charlie. Bill had never seen Charlie turn down such an obvious come-on from a beautiful woman, particularly one he was so keen on. He'd clearly opted not to drink to avoid the temptation, and Bill couldn't help but be impressed for that.

"Need help getting to your room?" Charlie asked laconically; Tess was clearly trashed, despite her werewolf's tolerance to alcohol. With every firewhisky that she drank like water, she'd become more flirtatious and touchy-feely with him. He was glad he'd obeyed his initial instinct not to drink; no way could he have resisted temptation with a few firewhiskies in his system.

"You offering?" Tess asked boldly, attempting a sultry smile that, between her drunkenness and lack of sexual experience, came off as highly comical; it was all the twins could do not to crack up.

Charlie got to his feet and held an arm out to Tess. He swiftly hauled her to her feet and had an arm wrapped securely around her waist, which was a good thing, given that in her present state, she was worse than being unconscious. Without Charlie's support, she would have been flailing around wildly.

"You're family's cool," she giggled as he helped her to her room and got her onto her bed. "Wish they were mine."

"You don't see the way Bill looks at you, then," Charlie said dryly. "He always wanted a kid sister he could be protective of."

"What about you?" Tess asked suggestively. "Do _you_ want a kid sister you can be protective of?"

Charlie chuckled at that. "You know perfectly well I don't think of you as a sister, Tess. I think you should get some sleep."

"I don't want to go to sleep. I want to stay up with you." With a momentary surge of co-ordination, Tess launched herself onto Charlie's lap and attempted to kiss him. Charlie dodged the embrace easily. Undeterred, Tess wedged her hand between her thigh and his, feeling him up with surprising ability, given her state of drunkenness and lack of experience. The effect was immediate. She tried to kiss him again and he pushed her away. "What?" she asked drunkenly. "I thought this was what you wanted."

"Not like this, Tess. Go to sleep. We'll talk in the morning. Goodnight." And Charlie left her, his groin aching from the way Tess had touched him. He wondered if Tess was as talented as he'd imagined, or he was just so damn hot for her that it didn't matter _how_ good – or bad – she was at wielding her sexuality.

Charlie leaned against the corridor wall, taking deep breaths and trying to calm himself. "You OK?" Bill asked, making Charlie jump as his brother's voice cut through his thoughts abruptly. At least, he thought wryly, that killed the last of his erection.

"Fine," he grunted.

"Then why are you doing that thing you do when you struck out and are trying to get a hold of yourself?" Bill asked. Charlie blushed; only an older brother would know something like that.

"Because your sister is a minx when she's has too much to drink," Charlie grunted. "I didn't do anything," he said.

"I know you didn't," Bill said calmly. "You didn't have time, and besides… I know you're too crazy about her to screw things up like this," he said, rather generously, Charlie thought, given how vocal Bill had been in the past about what he thought of Charlie getting involved with Tess. "I notice you didn't drink much tonight."

"Glad I didn't. Don't think I could have turned her down if I had," Charlie admitted.

"But you did." Bill mused.

"Careful, Bill," Charlie teased half-heartedly. "I might take that as approval."

"That you might," Bill said ambiguously.

Late the next morning, Charlie knocked on Tess's door. "It's only me," he said cheerfully, letting himself in because he knew she would tell him to go away.

"Go away, Charlie," Tess said in that strained, muffled voice of someone severely hungover – and embarrassed to recall how they'd behaved the night before. Even more so given how disgustingly chirpy Charlie was. Sweet Merlin, what has possessed her to drink that much firewhisky? Especially after Charlie had warned her not to skull the stuff until she developed a head for it?

"What, you think you're the first person who got drunk and embarrassed themselves a bit?" he teased.

Tess bolted up, blushing furiously. "I didn't – just – _embarrass_ – myself – _a bit_!" she protested. "I humiliated myself! No-one's going to look at me the same way again."

Charlie pulled the chair up next to the bed and eased himself into it. "It might take some time for you to realise this, Tess, but no-one cares," Charlie said. "It just makes you more human. I bet Fred and George are relieved to know that you're not this prim-n-proper French maiden, at least not all the time. I know _I'm_ certainly relieved."

The tone in his voice made Tess blush even more furiously and she tossed back into bed, covering herself with the sheet to remember the way she had behaved with Charlie last night… particularly the way she had felt him harden under her touch… and the way that he had dodged her kisses and pushed her off him. He had rejected her.

Sensing her thoughts, Charlie said quietly, "Why is it that I've been trying to get you to let me kiss you for weeks, but a few glasses of firewhisky and you'll not only let me, you're all over me? If I were less crazy about you, Tess, I would have screwed your brains out."

Tess sat up again and looked at Charlie in utter confusion. "But if you wanted to – and you didn't – you can't be crazy about me," she said falteringly.

Charlie threw his head back and laughed at that. "I don't think you're as enchanting as you are when you show just how ignorant you are about men and relationships," he said, a little ruefully, aware of the irony that few months ago _he_ would have thought what he'd just said was a contradiction, too. "I don't _want_ your body, Tess. Well, I do – but not on its own. I don't want your body when you're too out of it to give me your heart and mind, too." Deliberately, provocatively, he slid next to her with the agility and grace that only a Quidditch captain can possess and cupped her in in his hands. "And I don't want you when you're not in a position to properly give consent. The first time we kiss, I want you to want it with every _sober_ fibre of your being." Tess was breathing heavily now, and Charlie withdrew, confident he'd aroused her just a little. _Payback for last night_, he thought. "Come down when you're ready," he said kindly. "I think you could do with something greasy."

He stopped in the doorframe. "Oh, and Tess?" he asked cheekily.

"Yes?"

"At least now I know that somewhere in that complicated mind of yours, some part of you wants to have sex with me."

Tess wasn't so hungover that she couldn't hurl a pillow with deadly accuracy at Charlie's head.

* * *

"Is she still in bed?" Charlie asked Bill a few weeks later. Tess had taken Lupin's departure very badly.

Bill nodded. "I don't know what to do, Charlie. Remus will kill me if she carries on in this way."

"Perhaps the emphasis should be put on the fact he _will_ come back – and, well, he _will_ kill you if he finds her in this state," Charlie said.

"You think I haven't tried that?"

"I'll talk to her," Charlie offered. Bill looked at him dubiously. There was no doubt Charlie had a way of getting through to Tess that no-one else did – not even Bill himself – but Bill doubted Charlie could cut through this wall of depression Tess had built around herself these last few days.

After breakfast, Charlie made his way up to Tess's room. "You need to get up," he said brusquely.

"I don't feel like it," was Tess's reply.

"You haven't felt like getting up in three days," Charlie retorted, figuring that since Bill's kindly, brotherly approach wasn't working, he may as well try another tack. "You can't hole up in here feeling sorry for yourself."

Tess started at Charlie, aghast at this new callousness of his – and it _did_ seem to be callousness, compared to the kindness and understanding he had unfailingly offered her so far. "My _brother_ is _missing_," she said, mournful and indignant at the same time. Didn't Charlie understand that? Didn't he see that she was hurting? How could he be so insensitive?

"So is mine!" Charlie shot back. "_Two_ of them. And don't try to tell me I have three others so it's not the same – a family member is a family member no matter how many of them you've got. Percy's in the thick of the ministry and we don't know whose side he's on and Ron could be anywhere between here and Moscow. You think we're not just as worried about them? You think we don't miss them just as much?" Merlin, what he'd give for Percy's stiff-necked ways, for all his younger brother had driven him nuts when they had been at Hogwarts together. "You think you're the only family that's been torn apart by this?" he ranted, momentarily forgetting that he'd simply come to drive Tess out of her pity party and genuinely lost his own worry.

Whatever his reasons behind it, his outburst startled Tess out of her self-absorption. Charlie was right; the Weasleys were just as much torn apart as she was right now (though she still thought that the fact Lupin was her only family – well, not counting Bill or her blood family – made his loss greater than what Percy and Ron were to the Weasleys). "I'm sorry" she said contritely. "I can – I miss him so much – and I'm worry about him – I can get a little self-absorbed sometimes."

"Remus will come back, Tess. I've never known him to shrink for his responsibilities." Just the opposite – he tended to take on far more than he was expected to, especially given the magical community routinely gave him no credit for them. "He loves you and Tonks, and he feels a responsibility for the baby." From what Charlie understood, that was why he had run off in the first place. Charlie – mostly through Bill – was farsighted enough to understand that whatever apprehensions Lupin was feeling, his bond with Tess and Tonks would overcome them eventually, even if Tess couldn't see that right now. "But lying in bed all day won't make him come back any faster. And he'll murder Bill to come back and find out he's let you slide into such a state."

"He's not responsible for anything I do!" Tess protested. Charlie gave her a pointed look, and she physically backed off. Lupin had left her in Bill's care, so he would hold Bill responsible should he find her in a worse state than he had left her – even if she had gotten into that state through worry about him, even if Bill couldn't stop her if she decided she wanted to lie in bed all day. "Fine, I'll get up," she said grudgingly, as if she were doing Charlie a massive favour.

He knew he had won; it was a testimony to how much she cared about Bill. "Wear that red dress I like," he instructed cheerfully. "The one with the ruffles on the shoulders."

Tess glowered at him and he exited the room.

Suffice to say, he was pleased when, half an hour later, Tess emerged, freshly showered, hair washed and neatly combed out – but flowing freely – and smelling like jasmine… and wearing that red dress he liked. Fair women often looked washed out in such bold colours, but on Tess, the vibrant red was an eye-catching contrast to her pale skin and light gold hair.

"You look beautiful," he said simply, and took pleasure in the way Tess blushed like a little girl.

Bill was even more surprised to see Tess downstairs, showered and dressed, and wondered what Charlie had said or done to inspire such a turnaround in Tess. _He's good for her, I'll give him that_, he thought.

He hours slipped by, and Bill left them to it – and made sure everyone else did. The twin were at The Burrow for the day, so he decided to have the afternoon out with Fleur, leaving Charlie, Tess and their burgeoning relationship to it.

"Thanks for getting me up," Tess said late in the afternoon. They were sitting together on the couch and he lightly rubbed her back through the top of her dress, enjoying the way she leaned back against him. "I haven't been my most gracious lately."

"It's fine, Tess. I mean – you _were_ being a bit of a pain, but I get it, I really do. I miss Ron and Percy – and I never thought I'd _miss_ Percy. He drove me bonkers sometimes, with his adhesion to the rules. But I'd give anything to have him back now."

"He can't have been that bad," Tess said, longing to hear Charlie talk more about his younger brothers.

Charlie chuckled. "I had a rather spectacular _aversion_ to the rules," he admitted. "And Perce saw it as his duty to keep me out of it _because_ I was his brother – like he had to save my soul, or the family good name, I guess. It doesn't seem that important now. I just want to know that he's safe."

"Charlie… I wish there was something I could say to make I better."

Charlie kissed the side of her head. "That means more to me than I can say," he said. He dropped his hands from her back and wrapped them around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder.

She could feel the heat of his breath on her skin, the warmth of his fingers laced through hers and unconsciously pulled him closer to her. These last few weeks had been wonderful, and little by little, she had been falling for him until she realised she was in love with him. "Charlie…" she said shyly. "You can kiss me if you like." Obligingly, he kissed the side of her head again. "Charlie… that's not what I meant," Tess protested, wondering if, after all the time and effort, Charlie only saw her as a sister now.

Charlie chuckled softly. "I know what you meant, babe," he said, and she found herself shivering in anticipation at the way he said _babe_. "But I've tried to come onto you for months and you've rebuffed me at every turn. If you want to kiss me, well, I'm right here."

She knew what he was saying was only fair, but still… "Charlie, I've never done this before," she said in a small voice. "I don't know what to do."

He pressed his forehead against hers. "I'm not expecting you to be an expert," he reassured her. "I just… need to know you want this badly enough to instigate it. You're not exactly an easy person to read, Tess."

Tess nodded slightly, understanding, feeling the safety and warmth of Charlie's arms around her waist and knowing how patient he had been… how much he wanted her and how patient he had been despite that. She leaned in to kiss him…

There was a bang from the fireplace that signalled someone was coming through the Floo network; and given this was Secret House, that couldn't be too many people…

Nymphodora Lupin.

The noise had caused Charlie to pull away from Tess automatically. Realising who it was made his heart sink; of all the people in all the world, why did it have to be his ex, who was such a source of jealousy for Tess? But she looked deeply distressed and she had once been very special to him – was _still_ very special to him. He growled momentarily, then forced restrained on himself. "Don't move," he ordered Tess. "Don't move and don't lose this mindset. I'll only be a few seconds." He was tempted to plant one on Tess there and then – it seemed like he was _never_ going to get to kiss her – then decided against it. He wanted their first kiss to be something private and romantic, not something done in haste with an audience just to get it over and done with.

He got up and directed Tonks towards the kitchen. "What's up?" he asked, trying not to sound testy.

She smiled wanly. "I interrupted you," she said.

Charlie raked his fingers through her hair. "It's fine, Tonks," he said. "I've been coming onto her for months. A few minutes isn't going to make a difference. What's up? You look distraught. Is it about Remus?" he asked, rather needlessly, because there wasn't much else that could get her so upset. Tonks nodded, and tears welled in her eyes; Charlie was horrified, because she had never been a crier. "Here, sit," Charlie said, supporting her back with his arm and easing her into a chair. He conjured up a pot of steaming hot tea. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I'm so lonely, Charlie," Tonks cried. "I don't know what I did wrong. I don't know how to get him back."

"He'll come back, Tonks. You and Tess mean everything to him. And the baby, too," he added, although he'd heard from Bill that Lupin was terrified of being a rather and had pleaded with her to have a termination. And yet - he was such a good teacher, a truly nurturing mentor. Surely once the baby was born, he would change his mind?

"I don't want him to come back out of obligation," Tonks cried. "I want him to come back because he loves me."

"He does love you, Tonks. He wouldn't have married you if he didn't. I know how he feels about being a werewolf and what people say - he wouldn't have married you, wouldn't have put you through that, if he wasn't completely crazy about you. He'll come back."

Tonks was crying hysterically now, and Charlie wasn't sure how, but she had ended up in his lap. He awkwardly wrapped his arms around her, both to accommodate her shape and because she was his freaking ex-girlfriend and he'd been desperately trying to make a vulnerable young woman in the next room fall in love with him - a woman who had a werewolf's sense of jealousy and had pushed him away before precisely over Tonks. But she was his best friend, and he couldn't push her away, either. "He'll come back," he repeated, because he had no idea what else he was meant to say.

Tonks rubbed her tear-stained cheek against Charlie's shirt. He had that same outdoorsy smell that he always did - she reckoned he had gotten into far more trouble at Hogwarts for being outside, particularly on the Quidditch pitch, later than he should have been than he ever had over his sexploits - and the same physique that didn't feel much softer than a brick wall, but a lot more comforting. The feeling of being in his arms reminded her of being at Hogwarts, when there hadn't been much more to worry about than getting grades that were acceptable to her mother - though, given Andromeda's standards, that had been plenty enough worry. When she had been seventeen and she'd been popular enough in her own right for her easygoing nature and even more so because she had been half of the most popular couple in school... she forgot how she had found Charlie exhausting at times and remembered how much fun she had had with him. She remembered how safe and secure a girl could feel with someone who was as physically strong and emotionally laid-back at Charlie, compared to her husband, who couldn't shake the beliefs of a seven-year-old that he was nothing and no-one could love him...

… When Tonks kissed him, Charlie was momentarily taken aback. She was _married_, not to mention the little detail of him being madly in love with a girl a few meters away. But before he could pull away, he was swept up in the nostalgia of it all - he was seventeen again and the biggest problem in his life was avoiding McGonagall as he unrepentantly broke the rules and he had a cute girlfriend who adored him and everyone thought they were the cutest couple around... For a few seconds he was lost in the pleasantness of the past and returned Tonks's kiss, opening his mouth to flick his tongue in...

He knew the second - the microsecond - Tess had entered the room, even if he couldn't sense it on any subconscious level - Merlin knew, she had a wolf's stealth when she wanted to. In that moment, the icy fury of her rage seemed to extend to the entire room and drop the temperature ten degrees.

"Tess - " he started, pulling away from Tonks awkwardly. Merlin, what had he been thinking? What had _she_ been thinking? Of all the people for either of them to be kissing - he wasn't even that attracted to her, never had been, he had to admit, she had just reminded him of an easier time... "Tess!" he said again, more urgently. If he couldn't explain to her now, this very second, he never would. He pushed Tonks off him as roughly as he dared, given her present condition. "I'll speak to you soon," he said huskily, quite happy if he never saw her again at this particular moment. Tonks, quickly understanding that in her impulsiveness, she had jeopardized whatever Charlie and Tess had going, quickly made her chased after Tess, who had charged off outside. "Hey!" he yelled after her. "_HEY! STOP!_"

"Fuck you, Charlie," Tess snarled over her shoulder, the heat of her anger radiating off her. She'd been an idiot! She'd really thought she and Charlie had something, and there he was kissing his ex-girlfriend - _her brother's wife!_ - seconds after he'd made a big song and dance about how much he wanted her to kiss him. What a load of twaddle! He'd only wanted to get into her pants! She could kick herself at how stupid she'd been!

"Tess, it's not what you think!" Tess was stronger and faster than him, but she seemed to have trouble on the soft, uneven ground of the sand so he caught up with her in a few seconds.

"Oh, what was it then? I was just _imagining_ you kissing my brother's wife?" she asked sarcastically.

"I didn't - I mean, I did - well, she kissed me - but it's not what you think. She doesn't mean anything to me!"

"Yes, I've noticed you have a thing of getting with women who don't mean anything to you," Tess snarled. She was on the verge of tears to realise how little she had meant to Charlie and wanted him to go away before he saw her cry.

"_STOP_." Charlie caught up with her and, placing a strong hand on her shoulder, wrenched her around to face him. "She doesn't mean anything to me!" he insisted. "Not like that. And even if she did - I haven't done anything wrong! You and I aren't together! You've made that painfully clear the last few months!"

Tess shot him a look that was full of venom. "_You haven't done anything wron_g?" she asked incredulously. "You were kissing my sister-in-law!"

"_She_ kissed _me_!" Charlie repeated stubbornly, before becoming distracted by something else. "My god," he whispered incredulously. "You're not mad she kissed me. You're mad because I was kissing _anyone_."

The truth was so blunt, so close to him, that Tess's head snapped back a few centimetres. "I am not!" she spat. "I would _never_ be jealous of any twit stupid enough to be with you."

"I didn't say anything about jealousy, sweetheart," Charlie said, and he couldn't help but smirk as he said it. Tess was _jealous_. Of course, it didn't take much to make a werewolf jealous, but still, the werewolf had to like you to begin with, and such a revelation was even better than her admitting she wanted to kiss him. "But, hell, since you brought it up, you're so jealous you can barely see straight."

"Fuck you, Charlie. I wouldn't touch you with a ten-foot pole." Tess did her best to maintain her venomous glare, but, to her fury, found it faltering under Charlie's smug smirk - and the way his green eyes sparkled, and how his lips, even curved into a smirk, looked so kissable...

"You're a hypocrite," Charlie said. "You want me but you can't admit it so instead you get made at the idea that anyone else might want me. At least I can admit that I'm hot for you. You want me so badly that I bet if I were to touch you right now - " Charlie went to cup her face with his hand and Tess, frightened about how she'd feel when he touched her with the intent of seducing her, stepped back violently, almost falling over backwards.

"Don't touch me!" she screamed. "I don't want you!" Her words sounded hollow even to her. "I - I'd rather be with _him_ again than let you touch me!"

Charlie's eyes flashed angrily at such a cruel insult. He might be a little rough and aggressively in bed, but he had never used his strength to make a woman to do something she didn't want to - never even resorted to a love potion or anything that would screw with a woman's ability to consent. To have Tess, who was so clearly hot for him, blurt out that she'd rather be with a Dark Creature rapist who got his thrills out of violating children in any way possible, even if she didn't mean it...

He blurted out the cruellest thing he could think of in return.

"Filthy mudblood!" he screamed at her. "You should be _honoured_ I'm paying you any attention at all!"

He was sorry he said it the second the words were out of his mouth. He opened his mouth to apologise, but before he could, she soundly smacked him across the face with a blow hard enough to at least be a fractured cheekbone, he knew. He went to apologise again, but he saw the look in her eyes - hurt, deeper hurt than simply having insulted her. Her that someone she cared about so much could insult her so.

She was in love with him.

He grabbed her and kissed her passionately, forcefully and yet knowing instinctively that it was entirely consensual. He wrapped one arm around her tightly, bringing his other hand up to the back of her head, fisting her long hair in his hand, raking his fingers through her hair. "Tess," he grunted. "_Tess_."

"Charlie, stop," Tess said weakly.

"Shut up," Charlie said, perfectly willing to clamp his hand over her mouth to block her weak objections - though he had better things to cover her mouth with than his hand. Tess was in love with him, and wanted him, if the way she was kissing him back was any indication. Her tongue was in his mouth even as she was trying to tell him no - even as she was trying to push him away... and given she had supernatural strength and could throw him into the ocean from this distance if she wanted to, she wasn't putting in much effort. Boldly, Charlie moved the arm that was around her back down, grabbing her ass. He hadn't given any thought to it until this very second, but having done it, her ass was as round and pert as he'd thought it would be. "Tess," he moaned against her mouth. "_Iubito_."

She had no idea what he'd just said, and in the moment, she didn't care. She knew she shouldn't be doing this, knew she ought to throw Charlie off her as hard and far as she could, but there was something wonderful about the way he was kissing her that she'd let him do whatever he wanted so long as it felt this good...

"Told you you'd get the hang of it," Charlie muttered. He grabbed her hips and pushed her down onto the sand, climbing on top of her. The weight of his body on hers was pleasant, heavy and strong and reassuring, especially the way he was kissing her, her mouth, her face, down her neck, along her collarbone, whispering her name and what she assumed was something in Romanian. His hands were welcome, and welcome everywhere.

"Charlie," she moaned, experimenting with her hands. His hair was thick, and as rich as its colour. He grunted when she ran her fingers through it, pulling on it, and she pulled her fingers away, not yet knowing to differentiate between a noises of pleasure and pain yet - at least, not from men she was making out with.

"It's OK, I like it a little rough," he reassured her, grabbing her hand and moving it back up to his head. She hadn't noticed just how calloused and scarred his hands were- even after several months away from his beloved dragons - even though she must have looked at them a thousand times. She ran her hands down his back, under his shirt, marvelling at how the muscles in his body moved as he moved against her. It was like a work of art in motion. She arched her head back, and he responded by nuzzling her neck. She wriggled in pleasure as she felt the pressure of his mouth on her fair skin, at the same time, his hands moving to the neckline of her dress - the red one with the ruffles that he liked so much - and ribbed it cleanly down the middle. She wasn't wearing a bra, and although he hadn't thought of it til that very moment, her breasts were exactly as he had imagined them, and he pictured her bouncing on top of him, and grinned at the thought. He had a lot to teach her.

"Charlie!" she cried out when he starting sucking on one breast, licking and biting with an instinctive understanding of just how rough _she_ could take it, massaging her other breast with his hand while she writhed and moaned underneath him. "_Charlie_."

God, hearing her cry his name like that was the biggest turn-on he could remember. He slid his free hand down the front of her body to the hem of her dress, then under the silky material and up her thigh to her panties. He toyed with the top for a few seconds until she was bucking against him, unconsciously pushing her abdomen against his hand. He slowly snaked his fingers under her panties until she was panting with desire and slipped a finger inside her. She dug her nails into his back, bucked frantically against him and screamed out his name.

"_Scumpa mea_," he whispered when he felt her warm wetness around his finger and was suddenly aware of how hard he was. He tried to be subtle, not wanting to frighten her in the face of his masculine lust, but he was way past subtle when he wedged his knee between her thighs, pushing his thigh between hers so she was left in no doubt as to his state of arousal - about as high as her own. "I want you," he said breathlessly. "I want - " What he wanted to say was _I want to fuck you_ because that was what it was about at this moment in time, but it was so crass, and yet _I want to make love to you_ sounded cheesy in this context. Lovemaking was for a slow build-up in the bedroom - something he didn't have a lot of experience in - and he wondered if he should stop and take her back to the house and see if he had a delusting potion somewhere that would stop him feeling like he had to be in her right this very second, pounding away furiously -

"_Yes_," she cried out, sliding her hands down his back and to his ass - still clad in jeans, she wasn't nearly as good at removing clothes as he was - to indicate her consent. And, endearingly. "_Show me_."

He pulled down her panties and wriggled out of his jeans; as she had already noticed (not that she would admit to it) he wasn't a big fan of underwear, and his erection sprang free. Kneeling between her thighs, he scooped his hands under her buttocks and pulled her into position. Fingering her once more to ascertain her readiness, he plunged into her. He had meant to take it slow, but he had wanted her so badly for so long that all restrained went out the window. He heard her gasp as his largeness plunged into her and he felt her tightness around him; she was so tight, virgin-tight. He pressed against her, kissing her gently. "I'm sorry," he said. "It gets easier, I promise. You'll like it." He kissed her more passionately, and she seemed to trust him because she kissed him back. He slid his hand down between her legs and started stroking her. She began responding, moaning, louder and more frequently, and he could swear he could feel her heart beating faster against his own chess. "Tess," he moaned as he began pumping her harder, ramming his pelvis against hers, momentarily oblivious to the fact he was trying to ease her discomfort, though she didn't seem to mind... "_Tess_," he cried. "_Iubito. Te iubesc._ " He stopped kissing her so he could breathe properly - he was panting heavily at this point - and it took all that was left of his restraint to stall his climax until he brought her to her own. Ramming into her one last time, he held himself deep inside her as he spilled himself inside her and lay on top of her, panting and breathing in sand and not giving a damn because he was with her. "_Iubito. Te iubesc._ "


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys! Thanks for reading - feel free to review, it makes me write faster! XXOO HPFG.**

Tess winced at the weight of Charlie's body on top of hers got uncomfortable as the raging fire of their tryst subsided. Charlie scrambled off, withdrawing from her. "Sorry," he mumbled, completely at a loss as to what to say now that it was over. He rolled onto his side, wriggling back into his jeans - damn, he'd always preferred form-fitting clothes, but now they felt _tight_, as in unable to get into them when he needed to - and turned his back to her while he did up his shirt. Damn, how had she managed to undo the buttons when he'd mostly been pressed up against her? But then, there was a lot he hadn't noticed, he thought as he flexed his shoulders back and felt where she'd dug her fingers in. She'd ripped his shirt and drawn blood and he hadn't noticed.

It was the best sex he'd ever had and he regretted it the moment it was over.

This wasn't how he'd planned it. Actually, he'd never planned having sex with her - not beyond the general, desperately-in-love-with-her-want-to-live-happily-ever-after-with-her kind of way. He hadn't gotten past kissing her, which seemed to be a major quest all on its own, and when he thought about kissing her, it was all intimacy and magic and making her feel safe and respected. And then in the space of a few minutes they'd gone from screaming at each other to screwing each other's brains out on the beach.

_Fuck_. Bill would kill him. Lupin would kill him. And he'd deserve it for treating such an incredible woman like a prostitute. _Fuck_. He treated prostitutes with more respect than the way he had just treated Tess. _Fuck-fuck-fuck. _

Tess fumbled to fix the tear in her dress - clothing repair spells had never been her strong suit - she wasn't the type to get them torn in the first place, and while she had no doubt Charlie was good at them for the exact reason she _wasn't_, she wasn't going to ask him to help her fix a dress he'd torn down front in a fit of passion. Especially when she hadn't been wearing a bra with that dress.

"Need help?" Charlie asked tentatively; he doubted Tess was particularly skilled at fixing a torn dress. She was probably better with one of those sewing machine thingys than will a clothing repair spell.

"No," she grunted. She fixed it well enough that no-one would notice if she could make it to her room quickly.

"Want my jacket?"

"I"m _fine_, Charlie," Tess snapped, convinced she could hear the awkward solicitous tone in his voice, the tone of someone who's got what he wanted and is trying to beat a hasty exit but knows he has to stick around for an appropriate amount of time. She felt tears come to hers and and willed them away. She wasn't going to cry in front of Charlie now that, having humped her, he was looking to dump her. "There, I've got it." She got to her feet swiftly and crossed her arms over her chest as if attempting to deny him further access to her body.

Charlie frowned. He couldn't work out how to hold Tess's hand; what was he supposed to do, wrench her arm out from where she had tightly crossed it against her chest? She was angry with him, and he couldn't blame her, and he couldn't think of how to make it up to her.

"I need a shower," Charlie said; no cleansing spell was as good as a shower, particularly when sand had gotten _everywhere_. He resisted the urge to spit in front of Tess; he must have gotten a bucketful in his mouth. If this was anyone but Tess, he would have added a cheeky _care to join me?_ but that somehow seemed really tacky, given the circumstances. "I suggest you have one, it's colder than you think."

"I know that, Charlie, I've lived here longer than you," Tess said shortly.

He flinched at the way she said his name, that short, tight way like it was something distasteful. He wanted to apologise but how did you apologise to someone after you'd treated them so shabbily? And after such a persistent demonstration of interest, too. She must think he was such a fraud.

They got back to the house, and both were relieved to find the house was still empty - Tess because she didn't want anyone to know what she had let Charlie to do her, and Charlie because he didn't want anyone to know he had treated Tess so shabbily. "I'll just have a quick shower then come talk, OK?" Charlie asked. Tess nodded dumbly, figuring Charlie was giving her the brush-off and would be nowhere to be found five minutes from now. What was the magical equivalent of sneaking out the back door to avoid a date you'd soured on?

Charlie headed for the bathroom he shared with the twins and quickly stripped down. The hot, cleansing water was good for his body... but only gave his mind more to focus on. He as a heel. How was he supposed to make Tess think he was serious about her now? How could she possibly believe any declaration of love that came out of his mouth in the heat of passion? _Shit_. Stupid Tonks and her stupid kiss - but that wasn't fair. _He_ had gotten lost in the nostalgia too, she hadn't put a spell on him. Damn. Of all the times for him to make a silly mistake - What had possessed him to let her stay in his lap, let alone kiss her back? He hadn't even particularly enjoyed it, it had been about as sexy as kissing Ginny. Or at least how he imagined kissing Ginny would be. He made a face. Best not to think about that, he felt bad enough as it was.

He had to make it up to Tess. He hoped he could, before she decided he was an irredeemable ass.

In her private bathroom, Tess let the hot water fall over her and vigorously rubbed the soap into her body; the cleaner her body got, the dirtier her soul seemed to feel. Unbidden, a memory pushed itself to the front of her mind and refused to be moved, no matter how horrible it was to relive...

* * *

_Six months earlier_

_Tess ached all over, every muscle, every joint, but particularly her jaw, which he'd smashed after she'd mocked him, saying if she couldn't speak to him respectfully, she didn't deserve to speak at all, the agony between her thighs where he'd violated her over and over, but especially the searing pain between her lower rib and hip where he'd bitten her. "Not so high and mighty now, are we?" he jeered, a monstrosity that was more wolf than human. She shuddered with revulsion, unable to help herself despite knowing what he did to those he felt didn't respect him. And his definition of 'respect' seemed to consist of women who thanked him for raping and turning them. _

_He walked over to her and stroked her broken face with unnerving tenderness, all the more so given he had caused her injuries. "You and I are going to be so happy together," he rasped, and his breath smelled like rotting meat. It was all Tess could do not to shudder violently._

_There was a sudden flash of light, and the monster pulled away from her to look in the direction of the distraction. "Oooh, a family reunion," he rasped sarcastically._

_Tess looked up to see two men - one maybe ten years older than her, the other old enough to be her father - and the older one waste no time aiming his wand at the monster and clearly crying out a spell that sent the monster flying. The younger one - he had such vibrant red hair, she thought - rushed over and scooped her into his arms. "We're taking you somewhere safe, Tess," he said. Tess wrapped her arms around his neck, not knowing who he was but knowing him and the older one had to be better than the monster who had violated her in so many ways. The last thing she heard was him screaming "NO-ONE WILL HAVE YOU NOW! ANY DECENT MAN WILL BE DISGUSTED BY YOU! YOU SHOULD STICK WITH ME... "_

_There was a disjointed sense of movement that barely registered through the pain and then she was in a cosy lounge-room that was light years from the dungeon or basement or wherever it was he had been holding her. The younger man eased her onto a couch._

_The older man joined them a second later and knelt over Tess. "Tess, my name's Remus Lupin, " he said. "I know you have a lot of questions and we're going to do our best to answer them, but first I'm going to heal you up as best as I can." Even in her pain, Tess registered the best I can qualifier. She knew there was no turning her back from whatever she had been turned into._

_Lupin went over Tess as gently as he could, understanding firsthand what she had gone through - and from the looks of it, far worse, because in the last thirty years, Greyback had come to expect far more 'respect' paid to him, and tended to target children who were far more inclined to give it. "I'm sorry we couldn't get to you sooner," he apologised, genuinely - and deeply - remorseful despite the fact Tess couldn't figure out what he could possible feel guilty over. "I was only going on whispers. I'm not exactly popular in the werewolf community at the moment."_

"_Werewolf?" Tess asked, tears coming to her eyes._

_Lupin nodded slightly, and explained what had happened to her. Greyback - the man, no, monster who had done this to her - liked to target children and create an army of Dark Creatures who were loyal to him from a young age, but he had gotten it into his head that he might create some kind of super-monster by mating with someone he had sired. And Tess, beautiful, virginal Tess, seemed to him the perfect candidate for siring. "I'm sorry," Lupin said again. "If I'd gotten there a little sooner - "_

"_It wasn't your fault," Tess said in a small voice, scarcely believing what was happening to her - and yet knowing that these two men weren't to blame. "What happens now? I don't want to be like him."_

"_You don't have to be, love," Lupin said soothingly. "Greyback is what he is because he's embraced his dark side to the hilt - he feeds all month long, that why he looks the way he looks, even when it's not a full moon, even in so-called human form. You don't have to be like him if you don't want to. I'm not. I've never fed on a human. I won't lie to you, it's hard, maybe harder than embracing your dark side - but it gets easier, and I'm glad I did. And Bill will be here for you," he said, gesturing to the redhead. He explained who Bill was, and that, because he only had some werewolf tendencies and didn't change at the full moon, he was in a far better position to look after Tess than Lupin was._

_There wasn't a lot Lupin or Bill could do for Tess but make her comfortable and promise to be there when she wanted to talk. "One more thing, Tess," Lupin said before he left Tess to her thoughts. "What he said? That no-one will have you now? That's not true. Bill and I are both married," Lupin said, with a confidence Tess almost believed - she would later learn the depth of the complications of the Lupin marriage. _

"_Yeah," Bill chimed in. "And my wife's a total hottie. And my brother Charlie - I mean, my human brother, not my pack-brother like Remus - has spent the last ten years hanging out with dragons in Romania. He feels more comfortable with dark and dangerous creatures than humans. " _

_Tess smiled wanly; at best, she thought Bill was playing up the positive; at worse, he was making stuff up to make her feel better. Because the truth was Greyback had been right; no-one would want her now. At least, no-one decent. And perhaps that was made all the worse by the fact she was beautiful. Men might want her sexually, as a one-off, but they'd never want to marry her, or even date her. _

_Or love her..._

Tess found herself crying to remember those early days - and Lupin and Bill's empty reassurances that she could still be wanted, love. Her brothers were aberrations ; Tonks had loved Lupin in spite of him, and Fleur had loved Bill before he had been bitten. Neither situation was going to happen for her; Charlie's interest in her was purely sexual, and now that he had gotten what he wanted, his interest would end. And hell, he couldn't even have been that interested in her in the first place, if he'd been kissing Tonks moments after attempting to kiss her.

_Stop it_, she ordered herself. She had been an idiot, but she couldn't take back what had happened between her and Charlie; she could only put it behind her.

And _definitely _not have sex with him again.

She got out of the shower and slipped into her pyjamas - too early for them, but they were warm and comfortable and she didn't much care for appearance right now. Besides, look at where dressing up had gotten her - said dress being ripped off her.

There was a knock on the door, and her heart sank and flipped at the same time; it could only be Charlie. She thought about ignoring him, but he probably figured screwing her once gave him the right to swan into her room whenever he wanted to, so she opened the door to him.

His heart flipped when he saw her. She looked so cute in her pyjamas. He wanted to take her in his arms and... He swallowed. "Hi," he said huskily. "Nice shower?"

"It was fine."

"I, um - I thought you might be a bit sore - so I found this," Charlie stammered out, thrusting a small bottle of murky brown liquid at her.

Tess felt her heart tighten at the implications of Charlie being in possession of such a potion; the same as Charlie having a knack for combing out hair (conveniently forgetting the reason for that, too). "You in the habit of handing it out to women?" she asked coolly.

Charlie's head snapped back slightly; it was the same tone she had used when questioning where he'd gotten his talent for combing hair. And she'd been wrong about him then, too. "I train dragons for a living, Tess, I reckon I've had more aches and pains over the years than even you," he shot back. He hadn't meant to be short with her, but did she had to interpret everything he did or said as an indication of promiscuity? "I just thought it might help." He remembered when he had first been with Tonks, he'd been used to far more experienced women and hadn't known how to handle a virgin. He'd hurt her, and hadn't been able to do anything about it, because Snape would have known what he was up to. He had felt bad enough about it at the time, and worse to think that he'd hurt Tess like that. "I want to help, Tess." _I want to make it up to you_. _Please, tell me how._

"What's in it?" Tess asked; Charlie started reciting the ingredients, and his heart sank as she frowned. "That's not compatible with my Wolfsbane," she said, and maybe it was his guilty conscience, but he could have sworn she said it in such a way like he was solely to blame for the ingredients.

"Sorry," Charlie said, shoving the bottle in his back pocket. He fidgeted like a schoolboy for a few seconds before going for broke and lunging in for a kiss.

Tess pushed away, frightened that if she let him kiss her, she'd let him screw her. "Charlie, I'm tired," she said weakly, knowing that was about as believable as her attempt to make him stop down on the beach.

Thankfully - at least, so she told herself - Charlie pulled away. "Tonight, then?" he asked hopefully. "Come to my room? We don't have to do anything if you don't feel like it. We can just... talk," he said, offering her companionship if that was all she wanted.

_Talk_, Tess thought bitterly. Everyone knew that was just a polite way of saying he was only inviting her to screw her. "I'll see," she said vaguely. "I really need a lie down, Charlie," she said plaintively.

Charlie got the message; she wanted him to go. "OK," he said. "Whatever is best for you. But I hope you'll come." He darted in to kiss her forehead before she could react, and left her room.

_Shit, _he thought. He'd blown it. He'd blown it with the potion and blown it trying to reassure her that he _wasn't_ just coming onto her - by coming across like he _was_ coming onto her.

In her room, Tess sank onto her bed. It was so obvious Charlie had been coming onto her for one reason - to get her into bed. _Come to my room_. Not _want to go out for dinner_ or even _want to go for a walk_... no, it was straight to the bedroom for Charlie.

She felt tears well in her eyes. _How stupid could I be?_ she asked herself. She wondered now what he had been saying while he'd been screwing her; she'd thought they were words of endearment but he could just as well have been saying how much he wanted to fuck her. The thought made Tess cringe with shame. She was like a prostitute who hadn't been bright enough to ask for payment.

At least, she thought bitterly, she should be flattered he wanted her again. _Filthy mudblood_. Maybe that was what he really thought of her. But he still wanted her. Perhaps she had been wrong in thinking once Charlie had gotten what he wanted, he wouldn't be interested in her. He was still interested in her... but only sexually. It was only ever sexual when it came to a dark creature like her and a pureblood like Charlie.

* * *

Charlie lay in his bed at four in the morning, having been lying awake since eleven pm, hoping that Tess would slip in the door and join him. The second he had laid down, he'd been struck by the urge to have her in his arms, fall asleep with her. He had thought about knocking on her door, but forced himself not to. If she didn't want to come to him, he wouldn't force the issue with her.

He sighed and tossed in bed again. He wanted Tess so badly it was a physical ache in his body... but not his groin. He could swear he could feel his heart hurting, and he couldn't do anything about it.

_Fuck. Should've stayed in Romania_.

* * *

Tess awoke with a start, highly aroused. She blushed to remember her dream - and to realise how wet she was - after an erotic dream in which Charlie did things to her she would never have thought of consciously... but which she was sure Charlie knew plenty about.

She blushed to think of what her mind had come up with while she was dreaming. She hated that she wanted Charlie so much, when she knew perfectly well that that was _all_ he wanted from her. What was wrong with her that she could know that about him... and still want him?

Sighing, she tossed in bed, scared to get back to sleep and have more dreams...

"I waited for you last night," Charlie said quietly to Tess the next morning when he got her alone. "I was hoping you'd come."

"I was tired, Charlie. I fell asleep straight away."

Charlie looked at her critically. She didn't _look_ like she'd slept all night... actually, she looked like she'd tossed and turned all night just like him. He frowned. Was that a sign she was angry with him? It had to be. "Tess, I - "

"I'm busy, Charlie," Tess said shortly.

_Doing what? _Charlie wanted to ask. There was nothing to do here; it was how he and Tess had become so close in the first place. But it was quite obvious she was trying to avoid him. His heart sank. _She was trying to avoid him_. "OK," he said slowly. "If you're free - "

"I know where your room is," Tess said, not looking him in the eyes. She was afraid if she did, she would give into him...

Charlie watched her walk away from him, head held high, posture erect. She was so proud... and he had pushed her down into the sand and fucked her senseless like a whore. He wanted to run after her, apologise, grab her, kiss her, push her against the wall... he swallowed and tensed his body up to restrain himself from running after her. If she didn't want him, grandiose gestures weren't going to fix that.

* * *

"Charlie, is there something going on that I should know about?" Bill asked Charlie a few days later. "Something between you and Tess?"

Charlie did his best to look innocent. "I've got no idea what you're talking about."

Bill eyed his younger brother suspiciously; he'd had a knack of knowing when Charlie was in trouble for unzipping his pants when he really shouldn't have. Anyone could have seen he was completely hot for Tess - and even Bill had to concede that the attraction was at least a _little_ reciprocated. And it had been going so well lately that Bill had thought it was best to leave them alone for the afternoon. Now, three days later, the chemistry between them more resembled the lake a kilometer away in the middle of winter - frozen solid enough to skate on. "You and Tess," Bill said. "You were getting along famously a few days ago and now - well, you're not."

_Yeah, see, the thing is, she caught me snogging my married ex-girlfriend - who, incidentally, is her sister-in-law. Then I called her a filthy mudblood, ripped off her clothes and screwed her in the sand dunes. No biggie. _Charlie shrugged nonchalantly - at least, he hoped it was nonchalant. "Have you asked Tess?" he asked innocently, knowing full well that Bill hadn't asked, or had asked and gotten no reply.

"She said it was nothing."

Charlie shrugged again. "Then it was either nothing, or whatever it is, she _knows_ it's nothing but is making it into something and knows she is," Charlie said. It was a convoluted explanation, but Bill go it; Tess was prone to a werewolf's unreasonable jealousy while intellectually _knowing_ she was being unreasonable. It was perfectly realistic that something had upset her that she knew she had no right to be upset over... "You really don't know anything?" Bill asked, not entirely convinced Charlie was telling him the truth...

"The only thing I know is that she runs hot and cold like my shower, except I can turn that to whatever temperature I want," Charlie grumbled, sounding rather convincing. It was public knowledge Charlie was tearing his hair out over Tess's, well, hot-and-cold running behaviour.

Charlie watched Bill go, feeling relieved and knowing it was temporary - eventually Bill would work out the chilliness between him and Tess was permanently... or worse, Lupin would come back, and Charlie knew Tess would tell _him_ what had happened between them.

_I should have stayed in Romania_.

* * *

The situation continued on as it was. Charlie and Tess maintained a cool aloofness between them that was a far cry from their banter and chemistry. Bill was starting to long for the days it looked like they would get together any day now; he infinitely preferred to idea of his brother and sister getting it on to this chilliness between them. But neither of them was saying what had happened, if something had indeed happened.

He had asked Tess about it; she had said she just couldn't deal with Charlie's history with women. He'd heard from Andromeda that Tonks had come by to see Charlie, which explained a lot; nothing seem to amp up Tess's jealousy like Tonks. So as far as Bill could gather, that was the cause of it. And naturally, neither Tess nor Charlie was about to tell him what had happened; both felt too ashamed of their actions and were too convinced it was the reason the other was avoiding them.

* * *

And so Bill, Fleur, Charlie and Tess were pottering around the house one day when there was the banging sound that indicated someone had apparated into Shell Cottage. They all looked up, and Bill rushed forward to greet his youngest brother and friends - a trio that had been absent for the last six months. "Ron!" Bill said gleefully. "Mum was convinced we'd never see you again!" Fleur made a comment in French which was clearly sarcastic and which seemed to translate to _only mum?_, despite the fact Molly's clock had been working like, well, clockwork and Ron had been accounted for the whole time, if usually in mortal peril. "Tess, this is my youngest brother Ron, and his friends, Harry and Hermione," Bill said, ignoring the rest of the family. "Guys, this is Tess, she's - well, she's Remus's pack-sister which kind of makes her my sister too. And I expect you to treat her better than you treat Ginny," he added warningly.

Despite the somber nature of the reunion - Dobby, the elf who has caused so much trouble but had ultimately been very loyal to Harry, was dead, thanks to a knife in the gut care of Bellatrix LeStrange - there was a lot of rejoicing and hugging. Charlie smiled when he saw Hermione; he'd had a rapport with her from the moment they'd met. Of course, she was Ron's girl - everyone knew that, even if _they_ didn't - but she was phenomenally bright and open-minded and they always had an interesting discussion about things that weren't taught at Hogwarts when they met. Because he was by nature more open with his feelings than Bill and Hermione was a girl so he could be more open than with Ron, he hugged her them when he arms were securely around his neck, picked her up and spun her around. "Bill's right," Charlie said huskily. "Mum was worried we'd never see you again."

"It was entirely your mum, huh?" Hermione asked teasingly. She had always been very fond of Charlie; with his phenomenal knowledge of things that weren't taught at Hogwarts - more so even than Bill - and didn't feel the least bit put out by the casual way he had picked her up. "You stoic Weasley boys weren't the least bit concerned that we'd come home in one piece?"

"Absolutely," Charlie said huskily. "Well, maybe Bill." He put her down. "Hi, Luna," he greeted the blond kindly; he'd only met her once, at Bill andT Fleur's wedding, and she'd struck him as a little ditzy, but she at least deserved a hello. "Um - well, as Bill said - this is Tess. Tess Green," he said. He flashed a warm smile at Tess, and was greeted with an icy stare; his smile was immediately wiped from his face.

"Hello," Tess said stiffly when Hermione held out her hand to shake. She seized up the slightly-younger woman. Not as pretty as her - Tess was aware of her beauty even more than she had been when she had been human - but _whole_, she thought bitterly. As young as her - younger, actually - as smart as her, and _whole_. And someone he clearly had a good rapport with, from the way he was swinging her around.

She felt an intense stab of jealousy drive through her heart. Charlie had found someone new. Or rather, he had rediscovered someone he'd known for a long time. Tess forced herself to smile even though she wanted to scratch Hermione's eyes out - and Charlie's, too. No, scratch that. She wanted to slice his dick off.

"I'm tired," she said abruptly, and went off to her room.

Hermione raised her eyebrows. "Did I do something?" she asked.

"No," Bill said. "She's only been a werewolf six months. How she's feeling - physically and emotionally - swings like a pendulum." He didn't add that watching Charlie embrace Hermione like an old friend - and _more _than a friend, despite the fact they _were_ just friends - wouldn't have helped the situation. "Don't take it personally."

"I won't," Hermione said, feeling for the young woman who had to be going through a difficult time. The only other werewolf she knew personally was Lupin, and while she didn't doubt he'd had his own difficult time, it had been thirty years since when she had first known him, and then only professionally. It seemed so much more of a burden when you were eighteen years old and just recently transformed. "How did she come to be here?" she asked. Bill explained, and Hermione shuddered with revulsion. They'd had their own run-in with Greyback, which had been terrifying enough, but sounded like a breeze compared to what Tess had gone through.

"Yeah, that's pretty much the look on her face when we found her," Bill confirmed. "This was _after_ he broke her jaw."

"He broke her jaw?" Charlie asked incredulously. Tess hadn't told him _that_, and for some reason the absence of such information seemed even worse than what she _had_ told him.

"I didn't realise you cared so much, Charlie," Bill said dryly.

"I do care!" Charlie said indignantly. "She - " He stopped abruptly when he realised he'd been about to say something incriminating, and that Bill had been _waiting_ for him to say something incriminating. "She's the one who shuts me down arbitrarily," he finished lamely.

Bill looked as though he was going to say something, then let it go. _Siblings_, he thought as he went to sort out sleeping arrangements for his five unexpected - but welcome - guests.

* * *

There was a knock on Charlie's bedroom door late that evening. "Come in," he said eagerly, setting aside his book and sitting up straighter in bed, hoping for Tess, despite the fact she had barely spoken to him since that day on the beach and tensed up whenever he tried to touch her.

His smile dropped. It was Hermione. "You know how to make a girl feel wanted," she said gaily, waltzing in and pulling out the chair, dragging it to the edge of the bed. "Hoping for someone else?" she teased.

"No," Charlie sid shortly.

"Really? Because I saw the way Tess looked at us before... and I heard the way you reacted when you heard about her being hurt," Hermione said.

"I didn't - wait, what do you mean, the way Tess looked at us before? And what do you mean, _us_? There's no _us_. I mean... we're mates."

"I know that, Charlie. But Tess is a werewolf. She can be unreasonably jealous."

"I'm aware of that, Hermione," Charlie said. "Every time I thought I was getting somewhere with her, I'd do or say something - or someone else would do or say something - and I'd be back to square one."

"So you _do _like her!" Hermione said triumphantly.

"You don't have to make it sound like a teenage crush," Charlie said irritably.

"Sorry," Hermione said contritely. "She likes you, too, it's so obvious," she reassured him. "She wouldn't be jealous of something so innocent if she didn't."

Charlie sighed. Hermione's words ought to be reassuring, but they only reminded him of how thoroughly he had screwed things up with Tess. "It doesn't matter, I've stuffed things up and I can't fix them."

There was a waver in his voice that Hermione had never heard from a Weasley before, not even Ron. Charlie was at a complete loss as to what to do, and deeply upset because of it. "You love her," she said. It wasn't a question; it was obvious. "If you love her, Charlie - why don't you do something about it?" Hermione asked, young enough and naive enough, despite what she had witnessed and experienced, to believe that love and enough will could achieve anything.

"I _did_ do something, Hermione, don't you get it?" Charlie yelled. Hermione flinched at the vehemence in his voice. "Sorry. It's just - I treated her the way I swore I never would, and she can't forgive me."

"Did she say that?" Hermione asked. Charlie shook his head. "Well, even if she _had _said it -

"You don't _get_ it, Hermione!" Charlie yelled in frustration. "I know her a little better that you do - that's all I've _done_ since I got here, get to know her. She's got a werewolf's pride, and worse, she's got a muggle-born Dark Creature's pride when someone treats her as less than they ought just because of that. _She won't forgive me_. "

He was clearly distressed, and on the verge of tears, Hermione thought. Tentatively, she scooted onto the edge of Charlie's bed and put her hand on his knee in a comforting gesture. "You're a good guy, Charlie," she said soothingly. "You can't possibly have done something so bad that she can't forgive you."

"I - " Charlie faltered, then found himself telling Hermione what had happened between him and Tess. It felt good to unburden himself, and she didn't even seem to judge him too much - not even the mudblood comment, which he knew Hermione was particularly sensitive over. "Sorry," he mumbled when he was finished. "I shouldn't be dumping my crap on you. Normally I talk to bill, but, well, he'll kill me," he said. Hermione laughed at that, thinking Charlie was exaggerating; she stopped abruptly when she realised he was perfectly serious. "You think he's protective of Ginny? He always wanted a kid sister he could look out for, and Tess is really vulnerable." He clenched his fists into balls of range, furious with himself. "I _knew_ how vulnerable she was. I _knew_ she needed to be cherished and respected, and what did I do? I go and treat her like a whore."

"I don't think it's as bad as you think it is, Charlie," Hermione said sympathetically. "I think she still cares about you."

"No offence, Hermione, but you don't know shit," Charlie snapped. "I - " To his horror, he found tears welling in his eyes. The last few weeks had been tough on him, Tess's constant rejection, the iciness that enveloped her whenever he was around. "You didn't see how she was afterwards. She hates me and I don't blame her. I treated her - I treated her - "

"Like a mudblood?" Hermione offered. Charlie nodded. Despite himself, the tears really started now. He hadn't realised how depressed he was over Tess until he'd been given the opportunity to talk about it. "Charlie..." Hermione said helplessly. There was something so _wrong_ about this situation, especially in light of everything else that was happening. An evil, soulless wizard and his followers were trying to destroy everything that was good in the world and two good people who seemed so right for each other couldn't make it work. "Charlie..." she said again, feeling like the only thing she could do was hug him. Charlie buried his head in Hermione's shoulder and started to cry in earnest. He wrapped his arms around her neck, his fingers clawing at her skin like it was the only thing anchoring him to this world.

"I don't know what to do," he cried. "Everytime I see her, I'm so unhappy. I think I should never have left Romania."

Needless to say, it was somewhat disconcerting for Hermione to be faced with such a distressed Charlie. He had always been so easygoing, so unshakable - which just went to show how much Tess meant to him. Trying to comfort an adult genuinely distressed over love - and not Harry's crush on Cho, or Ron's potion-induced infatuation with Romilda - was way beyond her expertise and made hunting for Horcruxes look easy. But Charlie was her friend and she wanted to try. She couldn't think of anything to do but pat his shoulder sympathetically, but he seemed to take comfort out of that. "Don't be silly," she said, remarkably soothingly for her blunt personality. "No-one wishes you'd stayed in Romania. Not even Tess, I bet."

Charlie didn't believe her for a second, but he took comfort out of Hermione's words and embrace - just being able to offload had done him the world of good. "Thanks," he mumbled after he had calmed down a little.

"You know, you could always try telling Tess what you just told me," Hermione suggested.

Charlie gave out a hoarse bark of laughter. "And give her another chance to make me feel like shit?" he asked. "No thanks. But thanks for listening." He nestled his head in Hermione's shoulder, feeling a little calmer than he had the last few weeks...

… Tess couldn't sleep - or, rather, she was afraid that if she _did_ sleep, she would be haunted by the erotic dreams that interrupted her sleep and made her avoid Charlie at all costs so she wouldn't be tempted if he touched her. On top of that, the appearance of Hermione had rattled her more than she cared to admit. Charlie was obviously very fond of her. Over and over in her mind she played the scene of the slightly-younger woman's arrival; the way he had lit up when he saw her (at this point in the replay, Tess remembered it as being a warm, intimate smile, the kind that you only reserved for one person in your life) the way he had picked her up without bothering to ask permission because theirs was the kind of casual affection that had established implied permission years ago; the way every time Tess had seen them for the best of the day, they seemed to be jabbering on about something or other.

Hermione, she reflected, had been to so many places, seen so many things - OK, many of them things no sane person would wish for, but still, she had untold experiences in the world and the most exotic thing Tess had to offer was a French schoolgirl's education. No wonder she and Charlie got on so well, they had so much in common.

Including being human.

She hated them both.

She loved Charlie so much.

She prowled around the house after everyone had gone to bed, her thoughts becoming more and more imaginative about just how much Charlie and Hermione had in common. To get back to her own room, she had to pass his, and she couldn't help but discreetly peeking in when she saw the door was slightly ajar. She had often noticed his light was on underneath the door well into the night, but the door itself was never open.

She was glad they couldn't see her when she saw Charlie and Hermione in an embrace, his arms wrapped around her neck, his face buried in her shoulder. Her heart broke to watch such an intimate scene. Even if they weren't doing anything, it was obvious there was a lot of feeling there. Perhaps even love.

She wanted to throw up. She wanted to scream at both of them, and inflict all the bodily harm her considerable skill as a witch and considerable strength as a werewolf would allow.

Instead, she would go to her room and cry her eyes out.

She had known, intellectually at least, that nothing was going to happen between her and Charlie. She had known all he wanted was her body. She had known that if he was ever going to settle down, it would be with someone he could introduce to his mother, someone he could be proud of - and Hermione came up trumps on both counts. She had known that he could never love her. But it was one thing to know, and another entirely to see it.

She was amazed she got to her room; she felt like she should collapse on the spot and be found there, a hysterical mess. In fact, it was the knowledge of being discovered such that got her to her room, where she threw herself onto the bed and started sobbing in earnest...

… Charlie pulled away from Hermione awkwardly. "Did I do something?" Hermione asked.

He shook his head. "I just... felt guilty for some reason. Sleazy. "

Hermione frowned. "We weren't doing anything."

Charlie made a face at the thought. "I know that. I just... got this feeling. Look, it's late and you should get some sleep. When was the last time you slept in a bed?"

Hermione knew he was trying to get rid of her. She smiled understandably. "Try and get some sleep yourself," she suggested on leaving Charlie to his own devices - and his misery.

Charlie slid onto his back, but sleep came hard for him, and when it did, it was fitful. He couldn't shake the sleazy feeling that he'd done something wrong, even though he _hadn't_ and even if he _had_, he was a free agent.

He didn't feel like much of one, though. He wanted to crawl into bed next to Tess. But Tess didn't want him. She had made that pretty clear.


	6. Chapter 6

"You know it's more enjoyable when you can read the words," Charlie said dryly the next day when he came across Hermione with one of his books on dragons - complete with animated pictures and Romanian text. Leaning over her, he tapped his wand against the book, muttered the incantation and the words translated themselves. Hermione squealed with delight; she had been content just to look at the pictures, but being able to read the words made it so much better.

"Thanks," she said. "But you speak English so well, I wouldn't have pegged you for preferring to read Romanian."

Charlie laughed. "The second-biggest nationality at the compound after the Romanians are the English, and then the Americans," he said. "English gets spoken a lot there, but everything is written in Romanian, so I read English a lot worse than I speak it. Plus, I think mum would have hauled me back there if I stopped at least _sounding_ like a born-and-bred English boy. "

Hermione laughed. "What about thinking?" she asked.

"I tend to think about half-and-half. Sometimes I struggle with the English words and I have to stop and think about it. And I've been told when I get worked up I have a habit of substituting the English word with the Romanian one, but if I do, I'm not aware of it. Bill says Fleur does the same thing." Charlie made a face. "That wasn't something I needed to know." He pulled up a chair and scooted next to Hermione. "I wouldn't have thought this stuff would interest you - have ridden your own dragon out of Gringotts and all."

Hermione laughed. "It made me even more interested," she said. "What's it like, working with them? Doing what you do?"

Charlie was flattered that Hermione was so interested; surely a girl who had played a major part in Voldemort's defeat had better things to be interested in dragons. But he started talking nonetheless, and found in Hermione and interested and intelligent young woman - it was pleasant to be able to talk about something he was so passionate about... but that most people found dull or dangerous.

He was so engrossed in their conversation that he didn't see Tess come in. Or, rather, she stopped dead in her tracks in the doorway, taking in the scene. Charlie and Hermione looking very cosy, talking and laughing, his arm draped casually over the back of her chair. They were smiling and laughing and looking very content with each other.

She turned on her heel and retreated to her bedroom. She threw herself onto her bed and burst into fresh tears. It seemed like all she did these days was cry over Charlie, and she hated herself for it.

Ron passed Tess's room and heard her muffled sobs. He knocked tentatively on the door. He was in awe and intimidated by this beautiful, fragile young woman who was only a year older than him but seemed like so much more. He wasn't sure, but he thought there was something between her and Charlie, and he wasn't sure what to make of that. His older brother didn't have a great reputation with women; their mum was always bemoaning the fact he never brought anyone home. Was he all that suited to her? Had she fallen for him regardless?

"Tess? Is something wrong? Is there anything I can do?" Ron asked.

Tess sat up to look at Ron, tears streaking her face and blotching her eyes. "How can you stand it?" she asked shrilly.

"Stand what?"

"Seeing them together," Tess said. "Charlie and Hermione," she spat out the names.

"Ch - Charlie and Hermione?" Ron asked. "My _brother_ Charlie?" Merlin, as if thinking about her and _Harry_ hadn't been bad enough, now she had to go and put _that_ idea in his head? "No way. He's way too old for her," he said, remembering too late that Tess was only a year older than them. "There's nothing going on there, Tess," Ron said haltingly. "They've always been like that, she's the only one who's actually interested in that dragon stuff. Just you wait, you'll see."

He left Tess and made his way into the kitchen where Charlie and Hermione were still getting along famously - and Ron understood immediately what had gotten Tess so upset. If he didn't know better, he would have mistaken them for a couple. As it was...

Charlie spotted his kid brother and smiled cheekily. "You know who you remind me of, looking like that? Bill, when he found out about me and Grace," he said, referring to Bill's Head Girl; Charlie had never tired of gloating about the fact that not only had he lost his virginity before his two-years-older brother, but had done so to the most sought-after girl in Gryffindor, if not Hogwarts, and one Bill himself had had his eye on. He frowned, realising that, given the history Ron and Hermione shared, it maybe wasn't the cleverest thing to say. "I didn't mean it like that, mate," he said. He drew away from Hermione, feeling the same seediness that he had last night, like he had been caught up doing something seedy and immoral... like fooling around with his brother's girlfriend.

"Yeah? Tell that to Tess," Ron challenged.

"Tess? What's Tess got to do with this?" Charlie asked, getting to his feet as he spoke, a feeling of dread settling in his stomach. Had Tess spotted them just then? God forbid, had she seen them together last night? She was always prowling around, and that damn werewolf footing of hers made her impossible to hear coming. But that didn't make any sense. "Tess doesn't care," Charlie said flatly.

"Which just goes to show what you know," Ron said. "She's _crying_ over you, Charlie. You really don't know how to treat women, do you? She's not some floozy who doesn't give a crap that you just want to fool around, she's sweet - and fragile - and you're breaking her heart!"

Charlie still had no idea what Ron was talking about - Tess had given him no indication that she felt anything but loathing for him - but that didn't seem to matter if Ron was right and she was crying over him...

He headed for Tess's room, stopping halfway there to go to his room and retrieve a delusting potion. The last thing he wanted to do was get a hard-on for being around her. He continued on to her room and knocked on the door. He could hear her crying. "Tess?" he asked uncertainly. "Tess, _scumpa mea_, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," she sniffled. "Go away, Charlie."

He let himself into her room, horrified to learn she _was_ crying over him. "It's not what you think. There's nothing going on between me and Hermione."

Tess glared at Charlie hatefully. "Don't _lie_ to me, Charlie. I _saw_ you together last night."

"You saw jack," Charlie countered. "You saw her comforting me. I was upset because you've been a cold bitch to me ever since that day on the beach."

"I - _I've_ been a bitch?" she asked incredulously. "_You_ humped and dumped me!"

"I did not! I've waited for you _every night_, Tess, hoping you could forgive me. That wasn't how I planned it. I didn't even _plan_ to have sex with you. I never got past kissing you. I didn't mean to treat you like a whore and I've regretted it ever since. But you don't have the right to shut me down and be jealous of something I wasn't even doing at the same time. "

"I - forgive you?" Tess asked stupidly.

"Yes, forgive me. Shit, Tess, I was sorry the second it was over. Not for being with you - it was the best sex ever - but because that wasn't how I wanted to treat you. I wanted to treat you like a princess. I wanted to make you feel loved and respected and sexy and instead I called you a mudblood and fucked you like a whore. I don't blame you for hating me, but you can't be jealous of something I didn't even do."

"I - you - Charlie - " Tess stumbled over the words. This was the last thing she expected to hear from him. Indignation, entitlement, yes, but not guilt and remorse. Charlie's eyes went wide when he saw the confusion in her eyes - and the emotion, the tenderness. "I never wanted to hurt you, Tess. I want to make it up to you. Be honest with me now, please?" he asked as he leaned in to kiss her...

Tess pulled away. "No," she said weakly, shaking, the emotional effort of turning him down manifesting itself physically.

Charlie growled. "Oh, for fuck's sake, why _not_? What is it this time?" Charlie hadn't meant to be so brusque, but Tess could be maddening at times. "Please, Tess. Honesty?"

"I - I like you, Charlie. I do. But... I'm not someone you'd marry, and... I don't want to be your whore."

He had expected her to rage at him, to bring up the old arguments about his past promiscuity. He hadn't expected _this_. But then, on reflection, he understood her logic. Her self-esteem was in tatters and he hadn't exactly helped matters by calling her a mudblood who should be flattered by his attention. "Who said I wouldn't marry you?" he asked, mostly rhetorically because the only people she had been around since being turned had been Lupin and the Weasleys - all people who cared deeply about her and would never think such a thing, let alone say it.

Then he realised exactly who would have said such a thing to her.

"I'll kill him," he growled. "I'll hunt him down and kill him."

"Charlie, _no_!" Tess said vehemently. "He'll kill you."

Charlie couldn't help but grin at the passion of her objection. "You care, then?" he asked laconically.

"Of course I care! It's just - it's just - "

"Do you want me to marry you?" Charlie asked quietly.

"What?" Tess asked, scarcely believing she was hearing what she was hearing.

"Do you want me to marry you? Will that make you believe I'm crazy about you? "

"Charlie! You can't possibly be serious!"

"I've never been more serious about anything in my life," Charlie said seriously. He slid off the bed and got down on his knees, reaching for her hands and taking them in hers.

"Charlie, get up," Tess hissed, mortified - and charmed. Was he serious? "I'm not going to marry you." Her heart skipped a beat as she said it. It wasn't feasible, Charlie was just being impulsive, but still... she thought she saw something there. She thought she saw devotion in his eyes.

"You charming little hypocrite," he drawled. "You say you don't want to be with me because I won't marry you, but when I offer, you don't want to marry _me_."He effortlessly got to his feet and was back on the bed in one graceful movement, still holding onto her hands. "I'm tired of this, Tess. I'm tired of the jealousy and miscommunication. I'm tired of being pushed away when you so obviously want me. I want a relationship with you. I want to be your boyfriend, and yeah, I think at some point in the future, I want to be your husband. I'm _that_ serious about you. Now, I'm going to kiss you. OK?" Tess nodded shyly and he leaned in to kiss her...

His mouth was soft on hers, much softer than the last time they had kissed. He hand was gentle on the side of her face, stroking her skin, his calloused hands contrasting deliciously against her unblemished cheek. He sucked gently on her bottom lip, savoring the taste of her, flicking his tongue into her mouth. She opened her lips eagerly to meet his tongue with her own and found her arms wrapped around his neck. "Charlie," she whispered his name.

"_Iubito_. I love the way you say my name." He pushed her down onto her back and started trailing kisses along her collarbone. She fascinated him. He wanted to explore every inch of her, body, mind, heart and soul. He started undoing the buttons of her shirt, very slowly, savouring every bit of flesh he exposed. He felt her hands in his hair and growled with pleasure.

"What?" Tess asked, and he realised he'd been talking in Romanian again.

"Sorry. I said you're a minx. _Ahhhh,_" he cried out in a way that required no translation when she ran one hand down his spine; encouraged, she slid that hand under his shirt and did the same against his bare skin. Charlie whimpered and bucked against her. For someone whose sexual experience was limited to being brutally violated and a frantic tryst, she sure knew how to turn him on. He muttered something again and she asked for a translation. "I said I'm glad I took that potion now."

"What potion?"

"A delusting potion. I didn't want to be all over you," he explained.

"You don't want me?" Tess was confused.

Charlie chuckled. She was never so charming as when she was showing her ignorance of men's natures. He'd been panting over her for months, that was hardly going to stop now. "Just means I'm not going to get a hard-on anytime soon," he explained. "I don't want it to be over in a few minutes. I want - " he gently pulled apart the material of her shirt to kiss the swell of her breasts that were escaping her bra " - to make you feel like the most special girl in the world. Because you are. To me."

"I don't know how," she whispered. "I don't know what to do."

"Don't try," he directed her. "Just do whatever comes naturally. You'll pick it up." He suppressed a grin, remembering that Alice had told him the same thing. It was hard, trying to take advice to do nothing when you were inexperienced and desperate to please your lover. "Oh - _sweet - Merlin!_" he gasped when Tess wrapped her legs around his waist, her thighs placing exquisite pressure on his flesh. There was something strangely erotic about a girl who couldn't weigh much more than fifty kilos with no muscle tone to speak of being able to apply that kind of pressure. "Stop that, or I'm going to come in my pants before I've had a chance to do anything."

Tess giggled, but eased up a little, sliding her legs down his body so they were tangled up with his. He started kissing down her body, unclasping her bra in a fluid motion so Tess was barely aware of it until his mouth was on one breast, kissing, licking, sucking, his hand on the other, kneading, stroking... she arched her back and moaned, feeling herself becoming aroused at Charlie's touch. With some difficulty, she got her hands between their bodies and started unbuttoning his shirt - how did something that appeared to be so loose be so difficult to get off? - until she managed to slide it off his body and had free access to his chest and back, marvelling at how muscular he was. The feel of those well-defined muscles moving under her touch., in rhythm to his own movements as he kissed her, touched her... she cried out as he clamped down ever-so-slightly on her nipple and returned the favour by digging her nails into his back.

Satisfied that she was thoroughly aroused, Charlie moved further down, swiftly unbuttoning and unzipping her pants and tugging suggestively at the elastic on her panties. He could feel the wetness of her arousal through the material and pulled them down swiftly. He nudged his head between her thighs. Tess murmured a weak protest. "Charlie, no," she said.

"Yes." He flicked his tongue out and savoured her, getting as much pleasure out of it as she did - as was evident by the way she moaned involuntarily.

"_Stop_," she ordered him weakly - especially in light of the fact she was far stronger than him and could have pushed him off her, thrown him against the wall if she had a mind to. She bunched the sheet up in her fingers when Charlie's expert probing found her clitirous. "Charlie, please..." She moaned, half in desire and half in frustration as she couldn't tell him what was bothering her.

Charlie worked it out a few seconds later. He eased off his attentions and scooted back up the bed so he was looking her in the eyes. "Tess," he said softly, winding her hair up in his fingers, "you don't have to return the favour. You don't have to do anything you don't want to. I won't force you - I _can't _force you - and I won't coerce you or guilt you into doing something you don't want to. I _want _to do this, Tess. I enjoy it. Now shut up and enjoy it. "

He slid back down and went back to what he'd been doing, and soon Tess was moaning and writhing under his touch. He pushed down one arm against her abdomen to keep her steady; feeling her respond to him was the biggest turn-on, and despite the potion he'd taken, he could feel his pants getting tight. With a flourish, he brought Tess to orgasm.

He climbed up the bed, straddling her, and kissed her deeply. It was a strange sensation, tasting herself on his lips... but exhilarating. "I thought that potion was supposed to slow you down," she whispered in his ear when he maneuvered himself so his erection was pressed against her thigh.

"It did. I'd have come in my pants by now if I hadn't. I don't think you understand how hot I am for you."

"I dreamed about you," Tess admitted. "All the time. I couldn't sleep. That's why I'd prowl around the house. That's why I - _ahhh! Charlie!_ " she cried out when Charlie started nipping at her collarbone, all thoughts of Hermione forgotten, just as Charlie had intended.

"Help me," he grunted, taking her hands and sliding them between their bodies to the top of his pants, the only thing that was keeping them both from being naked. "Please," he added gutturally. The pressure of his erection against his pants _hurt_ in a way that was both painful and exhilarating. He wanted to be naked and he wanted to be inside her.

Tess obediently helped Charlie out of his pants so he was naked. He wedged his knee between her legs, and she spread them obligingly. He entered her as slowly as he could manage, which worked for a few seconds until he lost control for being inside her and thrust hard into her. Like she had before, Tess gasped at her largeness inside her; he could feel how tight she was. "I'm sorry," Charlie said, torn between distress that he was hurting her and red-hot desire for being inside her. "Do you want me to stop?" He would stop, he vowed, if that's what she wanted. She shook her head. "You sure?"

"I'm sure, Charlie. Do what you did last time," she encouraged him. Obediently, he slid his hand down between their bodies and started stroking her. The effect was instantaneous; she arched her back, bucking against him and Charlie marvelled as how much strength was in that waifish body. He kissed her, first her mouth, then her face, neck and breasts, pumping rhythmically as he did. She ran her hands the length of his body, from his neck, down his back, squeezing his buttocks, digging her nails in and making him gasp in pleasure. He felt her mouth on his neck, sucking, biting, as much taking pleasure in his body as marking her territory; she was going to leave a massive mark, and he got off on the tactile sensation of it as much as her possessiveness. There was something absolutely exquisite about the way she could apply just the perfect amount of pressure, like she was born with the innate knowledge of exactly how rough she liked it.

"_Tess_," he moaned, his voice muffled, his mouth otherwise occupied. "_Scumpa mea_. " Her moans became more frantic as he brought her closer to orgasm, and she came up to meet his thrusts, ramming her pelvis against his. He sped up his thrusts as he felt his own orgasm very close, the real thing so much better than wet dreams and masturbating, his fingers working frantically as he tried to make her climax before he was spent himself. He felt her shudder under him, and he allowed himself to let go. "_Te iubesc_."

Panting, he withdrew from her and wriggled onto his back, drawing Tess into his arms so her head was resting in his chest. "This is what I wanted all along," he admitted huskily, twisting her long hair in his fingers idly. "I mean - not the sex - I didn't get past kissing you, not before that day on the beach - which isn't to say that wasn't the most _fucking amazing _sex in my _life _- just - _this_ - being close to you."

She lifted her head slightly so she could meet his eyes and smiled at him. He loved that smile; it was the kind of smile that was reserved for a lover. "Really? The best sex ever? I'll try not to be jealous, Charlie, but you don't need to pay me false compliments."

"It's not a false compliment, babe. I mean - yeah, you don't have any experience. But I can teach you. And your instincts are incredible. When I'm with you, I feel like you were born to be with you, like you know exactly how to turn me on, like it was hardwired into your brain. I think I would even have liked you as a human." Tess laughed at that; she was sure only Charlie would think to pay her a compliment that he probably would have liked her better as a werewolf than as a human. She settled in his arms, listening to his heart beat in his chest, inhaling his sweaty, sexual maleness.

"Charlie?" she asked. "What's my scampi?"

"You don't like seafood," Charlie responded idly before he realised what she was asking. "_Scumpa mea. _Sorry, when I get worked up I sometimes forget the English word and use the Romanian one - or so I'm told. I'm usually too worked up to realise I'm doing it. It means my darling._Iubito _means beloved... " he took a deep breath; he was as well go for broke. "And _te iubesc _means I love you." He felt rather than heard her sharp intake of breath. "I love you, Tess. You don't have to say it back. I just wanted you to know."

Needless to say, he wasn't prepared for her response. He was prepared to have her tell him she didn't believe him, to suddenly become awkward and fidgety and generally nervous around someone who'd made the ultimate declaration. He hadn't expected her to smack him soundly across the face. "_Salaud. _Why couldn't you just say that in the first place?" she yelled at him, balling her hands into fists and pounding on his chest in fury and frustration that the last few weeks of misery could have been avoided if it hadn't been for his propensity for talking in Romanian when it was extra-important for him to use English.

Charlie grabbed her wrists and it took all his strength to restrain her; he suspected she was lashing out at him in frustration rather than truly attacking him. "I'm sorry," he said contritely. "I didn't know - I thought you hated me. Baby, baby, it's OK. I love you. _Ow_, that fucking _hurts_!"

Tess stopped and Charlie settled her back in his arms - where, if he had his way, she would stay for the next week. "Sorry. I"m not good at this," she admitted.

"Neither am I. But I do know beating up your boyfriend is not the correct response to him telling you he loves you."

"Sorry."

"You're lucky I have a high tolerance for pain." He kissed the side of her head to show her he wasn't too mad. "Don't hit me, Tess. Not if I'm not trying to force myself onto you. Which I wouldn't do."

"Sorry."

"And please stop apologising. I know you've been hurt. I can be patient. When you keep apologising it's like you don't think you deserve to be loved. And you _do_ deserve it, Tess. You're so strong and vibrant, I've barely been able to think of anyone but you since I met you." He ran his hand up and down the length of her bare back gently, loverly. "There's nothing I want other than to be with you. I'm going to go down on you whenever I want 'cos I enjoy it and I'm going to tell you I love you whenever I want 'cos I do, and if you can't bring yourself to return it, you can at least accept it with good grace. " She mumbled something in French which Charlie look to mean something in the vein of 'bossy bastard', but she didn't do anything else to protest.

Tess lay in his arms for a few minutes, enjoying the feeling of his hands on her back and in her hair, all the more intimate for the fact there wasn't anything particularly sexual in his touch, because she screwed up the courage to ask him something. "Charlie?"

"Yeah?"

"How long - I mean - how many times before it's not so, um... uncomfortable. I mean - it's great - I love being with you - I just thought that it was easier after the first few times. And since it was several times with him... " Tess trailed off, uncertain how to broach the subject of sex under the best of circumstances and distressed to be having to bring up Greyback with him.

Charlie could feel the tenseness in Tess's body as she clumsily attempted to explain to him. "There's no hard and fast rule," he said cautiously. "I haven't been with many women as inexperienced as you - actually, only two, including you - " he was reluctant to mention Tonks by name, "- but I know I'm pretty well-endowed and I can take some getting used to. "

Tess closed her first three fingers over her thumb and wiggled her little finger suggestively. It hadn't occurred to Charlie to ask how he compared to the animal who had so brutally used Tess, but he grasped the significance of the gesture straight away. And couldn't help but giggle at the thought. "I know I shouldn't laugh, babe," he said contritely. "It's just - the idea of of one of the worst monsters of dark magic after Voldemort and Bellatrix being so pathetically endowed is... OK, sorry, but it's hysterical." It made Charlie want to hunt the werewolf down and gloat about the discrepancy between the two men. "He was seriously that small?"

Tess nodded. "Even I knew enough to know it. I commented about it." She subconsciously rotated her jaw.

"So he _broke _your _jaw_?" Charlie asked incredulously, although he knew he shouldn't be surprised. Anyone who would target someone as innocent as Tess precisely for her innocence to rape and turn her wasn't above breaking her jaw for making fun of his penis. "Bill told me," he explained. "But if he really was that small, than physically at least, you're practically still a virgin - or at least were," he added dryly. He kissed the top of her head again. "That makes sense, actually. I thought you were really tight. I hated knowing I was hurting you, and I couldn't even give you something for it."

"You weren't hurting me, Charlie. _He_ hurt me. With you it's just a little uncomfortable, to start of with." She raised her head to him and grinned slyly. "And you made me come twice, so it's easy forgive you."

Charlie pulled her properly on top of him. "I like making you come," he said huskily, kissing her. "I like the way you wrap your legs around me, the way you dig your nails into my back, the way you call my name. I even like the way you plant a massive hickey on my neck to mark your territory like the possessive werewolf you are." He ran his hands down her back and cupped her buttocks, squeezing them possessively. "I want you on top of me," he directed her. "I want to watch your tits bounce while you ride me."

There was something sexy about the way he was so crass. "I don't know how," she admitted.

"It's easy. Here, I want you to touch me." He wriggled slightly so she could access him better. She tentatively touched him, feeling his partial erection harden at her touch. Charlie inhaled sharply. "_Tess. Scumpa mea._" Tess smiled; she loved the sound of the endearment on his lips, even more so than if he'd spoken them in English. She became bolder in her caresses, stroking him more firmly, using her free hand to massage his balls. Charlie moaned his appreciation and the state of his arousal grew to reflect that appreciation.

He moved them again so they were both on their sides, facing each other, making it easy for him to touch her while kissing her simultaneously. They came to a mutual orgasm before he turned over onto his back and lifted her on top of her. "Ride me," he directed her, grabbing her hips to keep her steady. "Use your upper legs as pistons. Yeah, like that," he said approvingly. "Oh, sweet Merlin..." The sight of her bouncing breasts was exactly how he had imagined it, and he could swear he felt himself becoming even harder inside her.

It took him longer to climax, the third time in less than an hour - he had a lot of stamina, but not that much - and he was grateful that she didn't let on any discomfort she might have been feeling. "I love you," he whispered as she settled into his arms.

* * *

Tess woke up screaming. Charlie shook her shoulder gently, scared to restrain her any more for fear that she would attack him. "Tess, baby," he pleaded. "It's only me. There's no-one here that will hurt you."

Tess snapped out of her nightmare suddenly. Her eyes flashed open and she breathed in sharply. "Oh, God," she sobbed brokenly.

Charlie eased her into his arms. "It's OK," he said, rocking her gently. "It's OK. I'm here."

The bedroom door burst open. It was Bill. "What's going on?" he demanded. "I heard screaming." He stood in the doorframe, eyeing the situation critically. His brother and sister in bed together, Charlie giving him that stubborn, unrepentant look he did so well when he knew his choice of bedmate wasn't approved of, Tess shaking visibly in his arms. He was torn between disapproval and being touch at at the way Charlie was holding her, obviously very concerned and protective - and deeply in love with her. He was making soothing sounds, rocking her gently. This was Charlie, who knew dark and dangerous creatures and rough living, holding her as gently and soothingly as he would a baby.

Charlie barely had time to cover him and Tess up. "Bill!" he said indignantly. "I've got this. She just had a bad dream."

"I think you should go back to your own room, Charlie," Bill said gruffly.

"No," Tess said, her voice muffled against Charlie's chest. She turned her head awkwardly, given she couldn't move much without the sheet falling down. "I want him to stay."

"Charlie." Bill cocked his head towards the corridor, indicated he wanted to speak to Charlie in private.

"Give me a sec," Charlie said pointedly. Bill left the room, closing the door behind him. "I'll just be a minute, babe," he said. He quickly got dressed and met Bill in the hall, casting a silencing spell on the hall so Tess's werewolf hearing couldn't pick up their conversation. He crossed his arms around him and gave his older brother another stubborn, unrepentant glare. "I'm good for her," Charlie insisted. "You're not going to find anyone who'll love her like I do." Apart from maybe Bill and Lupin, and they hardly counted.

"You love her?" Bill asked.

"Yeah, I do," Charlie said.

"Coulda fooled me," Bill said. "What's been going on between you two the last few weeks?"

Charlie shuffled his feet. "I don't care to go into that," he mumbled.

"Charlie..." Bill said warningly. He knew his brother's reputation, knew how easy it was for someone like Charlie to inadvertently hurt someone like Tess through his bulldozer approach to life.

"I know what I'm doing, Bill! I know you don't think I am and I know you think it's icky, but _she's your sister, not mine_ and _I love her_ and it's _not my fucking fault_ if she won't communicate with me. We could have been happy for the last month almost if she had _once_ told me what was wrong and I am _not_ going to waste time here arguing with you when I have a distressed girlfriend in there. So are we done?" Bill nodded slightly; he had never seen Charlie this worked up - at least, not when he was still speaking English.

Charlie slipped back into the room and slipped back into bed next to Tess. "Sorry," he said. It didn't feel right to be dressed, but it didn't feel right to get _un_dressed either. "What happened?

"Bad dream."

"About Greyback?" Tess nodded against his shoulder. "Do you want to tell me about it?" She shook her head. "OK, well let me tell you something. He can't hurt you here. It's my job to take care of you. My and Remus's and Bill's, but mostly mine. And it's what I want to do. OK? " he asked.

"OK."

He kissed her. "Good. Now, I don't know about you, but I'm starving, and I always have bad dreams when I miss dinner." It was three in the morning; they had exhausted themselves and fallen asleep early evening, missing dinner. Tess smiled gratefully at him; he almost made it sound believable, that her nightmares were caused by being hungry.

She got dressed and followed Charlie downstairs. There was a fresh chunk of beef in the fridge and Charlie quickly sliced it into a manageable piece of steak. He started cooking for himself but left Tess's portion raw on her plate. "You don't have to cook it for my benefit," he said when she made a motion to put her own meat on the stove. "I've been meaning to speak to you about that, actually. No-one cares if you want to eat your steak raw." He wrapped one arm around her waist and used his free arm to continue cooking.

She leaned her head against his shoulder. "You're quite the multi-tasker, aren't you?" she asked.

He kissed the top of her head. "I have to be, if I want to keep up with you."

They sat down at the table after assembling drinks and salads that Fleur had conveniently left in the fridge. Charlie pulled her into his lap, his arm securely around her waist. She felt good in his lap, the perfect weight for him, solid and real without being too heavy. "Tess, there's something I need to explain to you," he said. "It's about Tonks."

Predictably, Tess stiffened in his arms. "Charlie, I don't want to hear - "

"Shush. You need to know this. What you saw - it didn't mean anything. I know it looked terrible, but it was just a stupid thing I did in the heat of the moment. I'm not in love with her, I don't think I ever was."

"Then why did you do it?"

Charlie shrugged. "It was a stupid thing. Life is _hard_ at the moment, and for a second she reminded me of how _easy_ it was to be seventeen. But I don't _want_ to be seventeen with her. I _like_ being twenty-five with you. What Tonks and I had - it was comfortable, we just kind of drifted together cos our parents were friends, but I never felt the way I did with her when I'm with you. You infuriate me sometimes, Tess, but I'm desperately in love with you. I've never felt this way about someone. I love you, and I want to marry you when this war is over. Before that, if you'd have me. Do you believe me? "

"When the war is over," Tess clarified. "_If _we win. I won't be a millstone around your neck if we don't."

Charlie nuzzled her neck. He let it go at that, though he had no intention of letting her slip through his fingers should the war not go the way they wanted.

* * *

The house was dark when Lupin let himself in. He had been gone a long time, and he felt guilty about that - both for his wife and his sister. They had both deserved better treatment than what he had meted out to them. But hopefully he could make up for that now. "Dora?" he asked into the darkness. "Love, I'm home.


End file.
